


Oh My Gods

by 1JaggedOutlawQueen



Series: Outlaw Queen [6]
Category: Outlaw Queen - Fandom
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-27
Updated: 2021-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-08 17:35:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 22
Words: 63,361
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27220570
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/1JaggedOutlawQueen/pseuds/1JaggedOutlawQueen
Summary: What happens when two magical little girls try to solve the age-old problem of sibling rivalry?
Series: Outlaw Queen [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1872643
Comments: 19
Kudos: 6





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> DISCLAINER: The characters mentioned within the following tale still do not belong to me...Dammit!

* * *

From her perch on one of her bedroom's cushioned window seats, Five-year-old Norah Locksley studies her grumpy redheaded cousin with a keen circumspect rarely seen in one so young. Hopefully, she offers, "Do you want to go outside?"

Six-year-old Eliana, daughter of the Dark Lord and the Wicked Witch of the West, scowls as she flops down on Norah's antique sleigh bed with disinterest. "You always ask me that. I don't like outside. What's so great about outside?"

"Lots of things." Norah declares eagerly. "We can climb trees; we can look for animals – or bugs. We can even pick apples."

Norah isn't the least bit surprised when her cousin suddenly sits up and shrivels into an upright fetal position, protecting herself by drawing her knees up to her chest and tucking the toes of her shiny patent leather shoes beneath the hem of her skirt as though it's just been announced that there are actually bugs in the room with them. Norah doesn't wait for Eliana to object with a scowl or even a squeal of protest. Instead, she quickly offers, "We can watch Ember play with Big John. They might like that. He is her dad."

Eliana rolls her eyes and scratches her gangly nine-week-old puppy behind the ears. "I know that."

With the enormous feet and frame of her mastiff sire, but the thick coat and solemn expression of her English setter mother, the sweet-tempered pup is usually viewed with an air of mild surprise and curiosity. Now, wary of the peevish tone in the child's voice and the tantrum that she already knows often follows this tone, Ember lifts her fuzzy head off the bed and studies her young mistress with concern.

"See." Norah takes this for proof. "She wants to go play with her dad."

"She already did – and anyway, I don't want to go outside again. I don't see why John can't come inside with us."

"His name is Big John."

"His name is silly. I don't know what was wrong with Cerberus."

"He's Ro's dog now. We told you, remember? He followed Mama and Daddy around in the underworld. Mama did magic on him because he kept trying to eat everybody. She made him not so big anymore…"

Eliana sighs. "I know, I know. And your dad was afraid he was too little to stay there anymore. He was afraid that he might get hurt. So, they brought him home and now he's Roland's dog. I'm just saying he didn't have to change his name."

"Uh-huh! He's Roland's dog now, and Roland can name his dog anything he wants. Mama said so!"

"Geez! Don't yell! Just 'cause Aunt Regina says something doesn't mean it's the law, you know?"

"You wanna go downstairs and tell her that, Elia?"

The redhead's naturally pale skin blanches further still at the prospect and she shakes her head fervently. "No thank you."

"Okay then. His name is Big John - even if you think it is silly." Norah sticks her tongue out in a 'so there' fashion.

"Fine! Why can't Big John come inside with us?"

"Mama says he's too big for inside. He's an outside dog. Mama says one day Ember will be too big to come inside too."

Eliana looks absolutely stricken at the thought. "You mean one day she's going to make Ember go outside and stay in that… that… that DOGHOUSE?"

Norah squints. "It's not so bad. Big John likes his house. It's big enough for ten of me. 'least that's what Henry says. He laughed at Mama when she bought that gi-normous doghouse home and put it in the backyard. He calls it the royal garrison. It has room for Big John, his great big squishy dog bed, his water, and his dinner bowls. He even has half of his toys piled up in there with him, and there is still some room left over. I bet you, there's enough room for Ember to get in there with him. At least for now. When she gets as big as him… Well, maybe not then. But he likes her. I think he will share his fort with her."

"It is not that big… Is it?"

Norah shrugs even as she nods. "It's pretty big!"

Eliana wrinkles her nose as she thinks. "Mum did say it was awfully big for just one dog. Why do you think your mum bought one so big as that?

"Mama grouches a lot about Big John. Especially if he pees on her flowers or digs holes in the backyard… but I think she really loves him. She calls him a big oaf, but she usually rubs his ears when she says it. She tells us not to feed him people-food, but last night we had a roast for supper. and I saw her sneak a big piece and cut it up before she put it in with his dog food."

Eliana giggles conspiratorially. "She did?"

Norah nods. "Just don't ask her. She'll only tell you that he's a brainless lump who's a slave to basic instinct"

Eliana scowls. "Huh? What's that supposed to mean?"

Norah shrugs. "I don't know. Wanna go ask Papa. He will tell us."

Eliana shakes her head. "Maybe later. You want to go get a snack?"

"We already had a snack."

"Only yogurt. That's not a snack. That's just a tease. You got any candy?"

"You ate all my candy the last time you were here."

"I only ate four pieces."

"Well… That's all I had. Maybe Daddy will sneak me some jellybeans on his way home from the Lucky Feather."

"We can go over to my house and get some."

"We can't go to your house without a grownup."

"We can if we use magic."

"Eli-annnnnna!" Norah hisses quietly and rushes to close her bedroom door.

"What?"

"We cannot do that!"

"Sure, we can. It's easy."

"The last time we did that, Mama wouldn't let me go outside for five whole days!"

"Big deal! Who wants to go outside anyway? It's hot… and there are bugs."

"I like sunshine… And bugs."

"I wish my parents would come home. Daddy's always in the underworld. Mum's always either taking care of my stupid little brother or she's gone to Olympus so she can take a break from taking care of him. She takes him up there so the rest of the family can fuss over him. They all think he's… 'just the sweetest thing ever.' The kindergartner mimics her Aunt Aphrodite in a syrupy tone of voice and then pretends to gag.

"Well, you're stuck here for tonight."

"Yeah… With no candy."

Trying to soothe her cousin's obviously ruffled feathers, Norah raises an eyebrow and wrinkles her nose in thought. "Maybe we can think of a way to make your parents come home."

"I vote for magic."

"Elia, you always vote for magic."

Eliana shrugs. "Well Norah, how else am I supposed to make the God of the Underworld and the Wicked Witch do what I want them to do?"

"You could try asking them."

Eliana shakes her head. "That use to work. Not anymore. Not since their precious little hot head was born. He steals my toys and my snacks, and they don't even care – they didn't even yell at him when he set my princess canopy on fire."

"They did fix it. It looks just like it did before. And anyway, he is kind of cute when he yells 'fire' and then falls over laughing when his head lights up."

Eliana groans. "Not you too! How come everybody thinks he's so cute when he catches things on fire? It's not funny. You should try having him for a brother!"

"Hey, I already have two."

"Big deal! Neither one of them has set your bedroom on fire by shooting flames from the top of their heads!"

"No, my brothers don't catch fire, but they're still a pain sometimes. Henry loves his new motorcycle. If he's not riding it, he's washing it. If he's not washing it, he's polishing it. Even his girlfriend got mad at him last week because he would rather ride his motorcycle than go to the movies with her. He was so busy messing with his new bike, he forgot he was supposed to take me to get registered for school. Mama got really mad at him. Then nobody in the house was happy. And last weekend, Roland tried to use my doll, Isabella, for target practice. He almost shot her with an arrow! Mama won't use magic to fix stuff like that. She just tells Roland, 'You broke it, you're responsible for fixing it."

Eliana's blue eyes go wide. "I would turn him into a lizard if he did that to Becca!"

Norah shrugs and shakes her head. "It wouldn't do any good. I turned Roland into a teddy bear once. Daddy begged me to change him back. I was mad because he wanted to go play with his friends instead of me, but it was no fun making Daddy sad. I didn't mean to do that."

Eliana smiles. "Maybe we can make Theo disappear."

"You're not listening. Besides, you already used magic to drop him off at the fire station with that note that said he was for adoption. Your parents just went and got him back. Maybe, instead of trying to make him go away, you need to make your parents stay here."

"How? I already tried to use that broken wand that Mum has. It exploded and made a tiny little green tornado shatter all the windows in the front parlor."

Norah's mouth falls open. "Was she mad at you?"

"Yeah, but Daddy just laughed and said, "That's my girl."

"Maybe you shouldn't try to use any more wands for a little while."

"Maybe we can get an idea from Henry's storybook. Is he home?"

"Not right now."

Eliana sucks on the inside of her cheek with disappointment. "Then, his bedroom door is probably locked, right?"

"Yeah, but that doesn't matter. I can still get in. We just have to wait until Mama goes back to her office and Papa Henry falls asleep in his reading chair."

* * *

After Regina pokes her head in the bedroom door to tell the girls that she's going back to the office for a bit and that they should play quietly and stay out of trouble, Norah sits on the window seat and watches as her mother's black Mercedes leaves the driveway and rolls out of sight before she heads for the door. There, she stops and places a hand on her cousin's shoulder to prevent the redhead from stepping out into the hallway. "Stay here, Eliana."

"I wanna come too."

"I'll be back in just a minute. You can wait here. I don't need your help to do this part."

"But I want to go with you."

Norah shakes her head stubbornly. "No! You're not very good at being quiet. You don't know how to sneak. You will get us caught."

Offended, Eliana objects a little too loudly for Norah's liking. "Uh huh! I can too, be… quiet!" Her last word is muffled as Norah clamps her hand over her cousin's mouth.

Norah rolls her eyes and growls in frustration. "You're not being quiet right now! Wait for me right here. Play with Ember and count to 20."

"Aw! Why do I have to count?"

"If I'm not back before you get to 20, you can come out."

"But Norah I want…"

Norah clenches her fists and stomps her foot. "Just stay!" She hisses.

"I am not a dog!"

Norah shoves her cousin back into the bedroom and closes the door with, "Do you wanna get your parents to come back home, or not?"

Norah walks slowly up the hallway. When she reaches the grand spiral staircase, she jumps over the squeaky first step the way Roland always does and walks halfway down to the second-floor landing. Holding on to the banister for support, she goes up on tiptoe, and peers over the railing down into the great room below.

Papa is reading in his favorite chair, and listening to music on his record player, but he's not asleep yet. He almost always falls asleep when he reads books.

She retraces her steps on nearly silent feet, and returns to her bedroom, making sure to close the door completely before she speaks. With her back to the door, and her hand still on the doorknob, she shakes her head. "Not yet. We still have to wait."

Eliana scowls impatiently. "I can just make him go to sleep."

Norah shakes her head vehemently. "Don't you dare! The last time you tried to make Theo go to sleep, he had to go to the hospital."

"But I know what I did wrong last time. I used too much magic."

Norah shakes her head again. "No way Eliana! If Papa goes to the hospital, then, you can just go home, 'cause we're not gonna be friends anymore!"

"Okay, okay." Eliana pats the air dramatically. "Just calm down." She wrinkles her nose. "You are kind of bossy, you know?"

Norah scowls and shrugs. "My grandpa, my house, my room, my brother's book! If you don't like it, then go get the book yourself."

Eliana crosses her arms over her chest and huffs, "Fine! I was only trying to help."

The look on Norah's face shifts slightly. "Do you think you can call for the book? Or maybe take us to it? You call for stuff better than me."

Eliana wrinkles her nose again. "Don't think so. It's easier to do with people. It's easier to know where people are. Their heads make lots of noise. Stuff, things like books, they don't make any noise unless they have spells or curses on them, and even then, I still have to know exactly where they are, before I can move them or go to them."

Norah smiles. "The book is inside Henry's room, and it does have magic in it. The ink he writes with is magic."

Eliana nods. "I know that, but I have to know exactly where in his room. Do you know where the book is? Maybe it's under the bed, or on the desk."

Norah shakes her head. "Henry puts it lots of different places."

"Then we better wait." Eliana admits reluctantly.

They play Old Maid, Memory, and Go Fish – twice before Norah goes out on another reconnaissance mission. Stepping back into the room, she giggles. "Papa is snoring. I can hear him all the way up here in the hallway."

Eliana squints. "Does he keep you awake all night?"

Norah shakes her head. He sleeps with his bedroom door closed. It's only because he's downstairs in the great room, and I can see right down to his chair. The room is so big that it makes extra noise. Daddy says it's because the room is round, and the ceiling is so high. Henry calls our living room the echo chamber." She beckons to Eliana. "Come on, bring Ember, and be quiet."

Norah follows the hallway around to the back of the house with Eliana and her puppy close behind. Once inside her parents' bedroom, she goes straight to the balcony doors and opens them wide. Outside, Eliana watches in confusion as her cousin sits down on the floor of the balcony and removes her shoes and socks. "Why are you doing that?"

Norah wiggles her toes. "Can't hang on with your toes if you can't bend your toes."

Eliana squints as she holds tight lead to Ember's collar. "Hang on to what?"

Leaving her socks and shoes in a pile, Norah stands up and trots across the balcony to the edge, where she climbs up, sits on top of the railing, and swings her feet around to dangle over the outer edge before she points. "To that."

Eliana squints in disbelief. "You're going to hold onto the flowers?"

Norah shakes her head adamantly. "Not the flowers, silly! The wooden thing the flowers are growing on. I forget what Daddy calls it. It starts with a 'T', and it works like a ladder. You can step on it. I can hold on with my toes and my fingers."

Eliana shakes her head and scowls. "Norah! You are crazy in the head! I am not going off this balcony!"

"That's okay. You're not invited anyway!"

"Hey! Why not?"

"Because you're not good at climbing. I don't want you to fall."

"Well, what if you fall?"

Norah shakes her head. "I never do."

"What if that ladder thing breaks?"

"It's not a ladder. It just works like one - and it won't break."

"How do you know."

"Cuz, Daddy built it. When Daddy builds stuff, it doesn't break."

"Why do you have to climb up anyway. We're on the top floor. Except for the attic. Can't you get there without climbing on that thing?"

"I'm not going up to the attic. I'm going sideways to Henry's bedroom window. It's always open."

"I'm not going out there." Eliana repeats and shakes her head.

"You don't have to. Just wait until I get across. Then, be quiet and go to Henry's bedroom door. I can open the door from inside."

"What if you fall? The grass is a long way down, Norah!"

"I told you. I never do."

"What if you do this time?"

"Then use magic to catch me."

"Are you serious?" Eliana covers her face with her hands and shakes her head again.

"Do you want the book, or not?"

Eliana lowers her hands. "Yes!"

"Then, stop being such a girl."

Eliana scowls. "I am a girl. I don't think I'm allowed to stop being one."

Norah rolls her eyes and reaches for the trellis.

Eliana covers her eyes with her hands.

When she is certain that she has a good hold, Norah kicks off the balcony railing and is halfway across before Eliana wrinkles her nose and dares to peek through the gaps between her own fingers to watch her cousin's progress. She gets really nervous for a few seconds when she can no longer see Norah, but just about the time she loses visual contact due to the slight curvature of the old apple barn's round structure, Norah's outstretched fingers clamp securely down on the window ledge outside Henry's bedroom. Norah hoists herself up and over the window seal into the room. Eliana does not see her again until she's had time to scramble over the top of her brother's writing desk, lose her balance, tumble to the floor, and then get up, crawl back onto the desk, and poke her right arm back through the window as far as she can, wave, and whisper loudly, "I'm here, come on over. I'll open the door for you."

* * *

Eliana sits on her knees for a little extra height in the chair that accompanies her cousin Henry's writing desk. She reads in stops and starts, turning the pages slowly and sounding out the larger words - the ones that are more difficult for her to pronounce. She relies heavily on the full-page illustrations for a substantial part of her understanding.

Norah closes, and pushes her eldest brother's laptop to a safe corner of the desk where it's not likely to be disturbed. She perches comfortably on top of the desk and reads along with Eliana.

When the redhead comes to a particular story line in the book, she stops and stares in absolute wonder. "Look Norah!" She declares as if she's just received an unexpected gift. "It's my dad!" Eliana points to an expertly rendered image of two gods who both wear thunderous expressions. One of whom, wields a lightning bolt shaped crystal and the other who has magnificent cobalt blue flames leaping from the crown of his head.

Norah shrugs as she hops off the desk momentarily and opens the bottom desk drawer. "Of course, it's your dad. Everybody who lives in Storybrooke is in this book. Even you and me. Even Theo."

Eliana rolls her eyes and begins to read the corresponding story.

Norah rummages around in the drawer until she comes up with a metal tin that is secured with a combination padlock. Shielding the rotating dial from Eliana's view with one hand, she spins it until the lock disengages. Once the tin is opened, she extracts two pieces of chocolate Riesen candy from a nearly full sack, and then closes the box; snapping the lock back into place before she returns the tin to the back of the bottom drawer just as she found it. She nudges the drawer shut with her foot before hopping back up onto the desk. She offers one piece of candy to her cousin before unwrapping the other and popping it into her mouth. Talking around the chewy treat, she says, "Don't get that on the pages."

Eliana shakes her head and squints at the words on the page as she quickly does away with the wrapper. "What's these words?" she asks, pointing as she bites into her own piece of candy.

Norah sounds out the first word slowly; three letters at a time "for- kid? No, that's not right. For-ceed…Forced. Forced, I think." She shrugs.

Eliana nods agreeably. "Okay, what about the other one?"

Norah tries again, with less success. "ee-x-ill-ey." She wrinkles her nose. Don't know. That one is weir.."

Her head jerks upward at the sound of her grandfather clearing his throat, and she finds him leaning casually against the door frame.

Knowing that they are caught, she tries a smile. "Hi Papa."

The old king laughs. "Hi Norah… What's going on in here?"

"We're just reading,"

Henry nods. "Well, that's always a good thing to do. Only trouble is, I'm sure this door was locked. Your brother likes his privacy."

Norah shrugs. "I know how to get in. We won't mess up anything."

"Obviously. Mind telling me how you managed it?"

Norah comes up short.

Trying to help, Eliana says, "The window was open."

Norah kicks her.

"Ow!" She rubs her right shin. "What was that for?"

Squinting curiously, Henry joins them at the desk, and stops near the only open window in the room. Leaning over to reach around his granddaughter's shoulder, he pulls the drapes open a little wider. Peering out at the ground far below he asks for a clarification. "You don't mean this window?"

Now afraid to say anything, Eliana becomes stone-faced and goes utterly mute.

Henry eyes his granddaughter sternly.

Norah gives in and nods slowly.

Momentarily stunned beyond the capacity for rational thought, Henry shouts, "Norah Locksley! Have you lost your mind?"

Norah stares in wide-eyed shock, instantly on the verge of tears.

Henry stammers wordlessly.

Norah waits, frozen in place.

Almost contrite at the sight of his young granddaughter's silent panic, Henry closes the window with a little too much force and locks it with the snap of his wrist. He shakes his head and points toward the bedroom door as he leaves the room without another word.

The two girls are silent for several seconds, simply staring at each other in shock and dismay before Eliana finally finds the courage to whisper, "What should we do now, Norah?"

Norah shakes her head and shrugs at a loss for words as two fat teardrops slip free of her eyelashes and slide down her face to land softly, soaking into the pages of Henry's storybook.

Out in the hallway, leaning with one hand against the wall for support, Henry places his other trembling hand against his chest and breathes deeply several times, in and out. He breathes slow forced breaths and counts to ten. When that's not quite long enough, he does it over again three more times before he feels his elevated heart rate slowly began to return to normal. Squaring his shoulders, he inhales one last time before stepping quietly back into the room. He settles himself on the edge of his eldest grandson's bed and pats the spot beside him.

Moving slowly, hoping not to startle him again, Norah approaches and climbs up onto the bed warily.

Henry picks her up and settles her across his lap. For a long moment, he simply hugs her until she murmurs in confusion against his shirt front, "Papa?"

He kisses the top of her head. "I'm sorry I shouted at you. I shouldn't have done that. You surprised me, that's all. I thought nobody would ever scare me as badly as your mama used to."

"Mama used to scare you?"

Henry chuckles wryly. "Boy, did she ever!"

"When she was bad?"

Henry shrugs and runs his fingers through the girl's hair. "We've all got bad in us Norah, but we've all got some good in us, too. The trick is to use more of the good than the bad."

"I'm sorry I scared you. I didn't want to do that."

Henry studies her with a raised eyebrow. "But you're not sorry you climbed through the window."

Norah looks at the window and then wrinkles her nose and slowly shakes her head.

Henry chuckles and tightens his hold on the girl. "That's what I figured." He shakes his head and smiles incredulously. "But you are your mother's child!"

Norah studies his face and squints." Papa, I can't tell. Is that good, or is it bad?"

"It's a bit of both… Usually more good than bad."

"Am I still in trouble?"

"A bit, yes. Suppose you tell me how you even managed to get in here?"

Norah whispers. "I hopped off Mama and Daddy's balcony and walked on that thing where the flowers grow."

Henry closes his eyes and mutters under his breath.

"Uh, Papa? You're hugging too tight. You're squishing me!

The old man loosens his hold and tilts her chin up, gently forcing her to look him in the eye. "Okay, new rule. From now on, unless your brother is in this room, that window stays locked. You are never, ever to enter this room, or any other room of this house that is not on the ground floor, courtesy of a window. Got it?"

"Aww Papa! I never fall."

"There's always a first time for everything. All it takes is one missed step, one loose nail in that trellis. Norah, this house has three stories. Do you even know that you were 70 feet off the ground? You could have been seriously hurt. You could have been killed!"

"Mama wouldn't let me die."

"First, your mama isn't here. Second, while I have great respect for the powers she can wield, the power over life and death is not one of them, my girl."

Norah squints. "Is too! She got you back, Papa!"

Henry groans, chuckling softly as he shakes his head yet again. "It's wonderful that you trust her that deeply. However, she didn't accomplish getting me back all by herself. She had a lot of help from one of the very few individuals who does have power over life and death… And how do you even know about that, young lady?"

Norah sighs. "Papa, my ears work good. I can hear people when they talk; and people like to talk about Mama. They do it a lot. I know she went to the underworld. I heard all about it."

Henry coughs uncomfortably. "I sincerely doubt you heard everything there was to hear. Yes, your mother brought me back from the underworld, but that is something she cannot do on her own. That required the favor of, and a considerable amount of help from Zeus… As well as a very special friend of mine."

Norah nods. "I know. Miss Maggie. You miss her."

Henry nods. "Yes, I do. Norah, I miss her more than words can say - and I don't want you going to join her. Not for a very, very, long time. You're supposed to squeeze every drop from life that you can get, Norah. You are not allowed to die until you're really, really, really old! I mean older than me."

Norah giggles. "Papa!"

"I mean it! So, that means, no more hopping over balconies, or scaling walls without a safety net!"

"Okay, okay!"

"Promise me you two girls will never climb through that window again!"

"Eliana didn't. She's not good at climbing. Just me."

"Never again!"

"Okay Papa. I promise. I won't climb through Henry's bedroom window anymore."

Henry raises an eyebrow. "Ground floor windows only! This house is entirely too tall!"

"Don't people scale castle walls all the way up from the ground?"

"Stupid people! And I know you're not stupid! So, no more! Got it?"

Norah relents, "I got it."

"Good! Now, it's not like you two have never seen that book before. What story was so important that you had to risk your life just to come in here and read it?"

Norah smiles. Finally, completely at ease again, she beckons to Eliana. "Bring the book. Papa, what is this word?"

* * *

Henry ushers the girls out of his namesake's bedroom. The last one out, he closes the door and then escorts them down to the Locksley's elegant living room.

Upon learning of her father's forced exile to the underworld courtesy of Henry's storybook, six-year-old Eliana scowls repugnantly and her normally pale skin goes bright pink as she demands to know, "Why didn't somebody tell me that's why Daddy has to spend so much time in the underworld? They could've just told me!"

Norah shrugs helplessly. "I don't know. Maybe you should ask your parents."

Grasping for any small amount of hope, Eliana wrinkles her nose. "Maybe the book is wrong."

Norah's eyes go wide. "Henry can't write it wrong. He has to write it the way it really happened."

"Who says?"

"Henry… And Mama too."

Eliana spins on her heel and glares at Norah's grandfather. "Are you sure you read that right? Does that book really say that my dad is jealous of Uncle Zeus? Because, Mr. Henry, that's just dumb!"

Having more than a passing acquaintance with the incendiary stare of a Mills female, the old king chuckles from the comfort of his armchair. "I'm quite certain I read it correctly. You're welcome to ask for a second opinion if you like, but such a request will come with questions; and the answer to those questions will likely land your cousin Norah in hot water over her recent trespass into her brother's bedroom – something I suspect she might have been less inclined to do if it hadn't been for your influence, Eliana. How are you going to feel if the two of you are not allowed to see each other for a significant portion of time?"

Norah raises a hopeful eyebrow. "Does that mean you aren't going to tell Mama and Daddy?"

Henry eyes his young granddaughter with grave speculation. “Not this time - as long as I don't catch you crawling through another upper story window of this house. Do anything like that again, and I will have no choice Norah."

Aware that she's just skated through a minefield narrowly avoiding doom, Norah gulps and whispers with relief, "Thanks Papa."

"Never mind thanks. Just you remember; that window is locked, and it will stay that way from now on whenever that room is unoccupied. Furthermore, if your brother wanted people dropping by for visits in his absence, he wouldn't bother locking the door, sweetheart. It's not very kind if you to invade Henry's privacy like that."

"Okay." Norah nods dutifully. "But, Papa, you said that Uncle Hades' exile was lifted…" Norah wrinkles her nose in uncertainty. "when Aunt Zelena was sick. What does that mean?"

"It means that he's not exiled there anymore. He can come and go as he likes. Although, before Eliana was born, his status beyond the underworld was probationary. That means he was released on the condition that he behave appropriately; and his release allowed him to be with Zelena when she needed him."

Norah giggles. "Kind of like when you're grounded, but you get to go on the school field trip anyway, as long as you're good, because it will make you smarter."

Eliana scowls. "My dad was not grounded!"

Still giggling, Norah reaches out and pokes her cousin on the arm. "Kinda sounds that way to me."

"Norah, you take that back!"

Norah sticks out her tongue and takes off running for the grand staircase.

As the redhead chases after his granddaughter, Henry closes the storybook, shakes his head in delight, and calls out with a word of caution. "No running on the stairs!" When small feet slow to a marginally safer pace, he deposits the coveted book on the end table that holds his current reading material and makes his way to the kitchen to begin dinner preparations as he mutters under his breath, "Oh, to have a fraction of their energy…"

Ten minutes later, after dashing through every hallway and out-of-the-way space of the upper floors of her house, Norah flops down on her bed and Eliana pounces. "Got you!"

Norah scoots away from her. "I'm just tired of running."

"I still got you."

Norah shrugs, letting the matter drop.

Eliana distracts herself with Norah's hand-me-down doll, Isabella, and searches the shelves containing all of her cousin's favorite toys without any real hope of finding another. "Norah, how come you only have one doll?"

Norah shrugs, feeling that it should be obvious. "Don't need more than one."

Encountering a foreign concept, Eliana scowls. "Yes, you do! How are you supposed to have a tea party?"

"Elia, dolls do not drink tea."

"Norahhhh! You're supposed to preee-tend."

Wholly unconcerned, Norah shrugs again. "Why? You don't even like tea."

"I know that! Mum gives us bug juice instead – the red kind; it's the best."

"I'd rather have cocoa and banana bread outside than stay inside and play with dolls."

"You're weird for a girl."

"I know."

"How do you know?"

"'Cause, Eliana, you tell me all the time."

"Do not. Not all the time."

"You tell me a lot."

"You must not listen. You haven't gotten any more dolls."

"I listen. I just don't care if you think I'm weird."

"Norah…"

"Yeah?"

"If my dad isn't exiled anymore, then how come he stays in the underworld so much?"

"I think, maybe, it's his job."

"His job?"

Norah sits up in the center of her bed and crosses her legs Indian style. "Yeah." She nods. "Everybody has stuff they have to do."

"Maybe your mom and your dad. They're mortals. They need money for stuff. They gotta work."

"Yeah but we're just kids. We don't need money. Our parents pay for everything. Still, in our house, different people are in charge of different things. Henry has to mow the grass when he comes home from school in Boston. Roland has to take out the trash and sweep the porches. I have to make my own bed, and everybody has to wash their own plate and cup and silverware before we put it in the dishwasher at night."

Eliana's mouth falls open. "You mean you actually wash the dishes? Why?"

"I only wash my own, and Daddy even got me some pretty plastic ones. So, if I drop them on accident, they don't break."

"But why?" Eliana repeats; completely flummoxed by the concept.

Norah shrugs. "It's just my job. Daddy says everybody has to help out. Everybody has to do their part. It's one of his rules."

"Yeah, okay, but can't you just use magic?"

Norah shakes her head adamantly. "Daddy says no." She giggles and whispers conspiratorially. "Mama hates that rule."

Eliana nods. "I don't blame her. Who wants to touch dirty old dishes if you don't have to? Your dad does know she has magic, right?"

"Don't be stupid. Of course, he knows."

"Maybe he forgot. Maybe he bumped his head, or something?"

Norah squints doubtfully. "I don't think he can bump his head hard enough to forget that Mama throws fireballs, Eliana. That kind of thing is pretty easy to remember."

"Then why is she washing dishes… Specially if she doesn't like it."

Norah giggles. "I asked her that once. She said, she doesn't like washing the dishes, but she does like Daddy."

Eliana squints. "Weird, I don't get it."

"I know, right?" Norah giggles again. "She still says Daddy has to wash all the pots and pans. Especially if something gets a little bit burned and sticks to the bottom. She won't wash those. Especially not if they're too big for the dishwasher. Daddy says he's the palace slave."

Eliana makes an appropriately sour face. "Big people are so weird!"

Norah nods. "So, maybe, even though you don't need money, maybe gods have jobs too. Your Uncle Zeus is in charge on Olympus like my mom is in charge here in Storybrooke. Your dad doesn't have to stay in the underworld anymore… At least not all the time. But, he's still in charge. So, he has to go down there sometimes, like when Aunt Zelena goes to Oz, and Daddy goes to Elyria. Everybody has stuff they have to do. And big people have more stuff to do than kids. Maybe the underworld is just your dad's stuff."

"Well then, he needs to move his stuff here, so he can be here more."

"Uh, how?"

"Well, I think I saw that Olympus crystal-thing in Daddy's hiding place once. It was broken, but if I can fix it, and if Zeus used it to make Daddy go to the underworld, then maybe I can use it to move the underworld closer to us."

"Uh, Eliana I don't think you can move the whole entire underworld to Storybrooke."

"I can try."

Norah groans and covers her face. "I do not think Mama is going to like this."


	2. Chapter 2

* * *

Two days later, while Robin is busy filling saltshakers, Regina listens to his end of a telephone conversation with his beer distributor while throwing darts at the tavern's only dartboard. With pinpoint accuracy, her darts slice through the air as she stabs repeatedly at the bull's eye.

Observing not only this, but the noticeably defiant set of her chin, Robin checks the clock on the wall and releases a heavy breath. Snapping his fingers repeatedly, to avoid speaking and confusing the person on the other end of the line, he claims her attention and points with deliberation at the loaded serving tray on the bar. Forty-five seconds more and, after concluding his call, he returns the receiver to its wall-mounted cradle and turns to find Regina eyeing him crossly; her hands on her hips.

"Are you signaling for something or do you have me confused with Roland's dog."

He points again, "Napkin dispensers."

"What about them?"

Already tired, and the bar isn't even open yet, Robin grimaces. "Love, are you trying to be difficult?"

"No, I'm not trying to be difficult, but I'm not a dog either. You can't snap your fingers and expect me to heel, Robin. Nor am I applying for the position of bar wench." Regina crosses the room and moves the tray loaded with half-empty napkin dispensers to the only four-top in the room that doesn't still have its chairs up-ended on its surface.

Robin mutters under his breath, "You wouldn't make a good one anyway."

Dropping the tray noisily onto the table, she whirls on her heel and glares at him. "No, I wouldn't! Do you want to know why? I was not bred for customer service. My parents had something a little loftier in mind, and I'll be damned if I'm going to apologize for it!" She turns her back on him before she adds, "The way you're behaving, I'm about ready to turn the gas on, and hurl a fireball over my shoulder as I run out the back door." Turning her anger to the task at hand, she rips the thin paper band off a bundle of napkins and roughly shoves them into a dispenser before she slams it closed and repeats the process ½ dozen more times.

Robin stares at her in shock, instantly recalculating his assessment of her mood. He knew something was irritating her, but he hadn't expected her threat to burn the place down.

Sensing his incoming touch on her shoulder, she sidesteps him and snaps acridly. "Do not touch me!"

With his confusion deepening, Robin shrugs and lowers his hand to his side. "I'm sorry. I…"

Regina shakes her head and waves dismissively.

He falls silent.

Frustrated, and needing an outlet, she turns and jerks the canister of salt from his hand without making eye contact and sets about filling the rest of the saltshakers, leaving the heavier prep work to him.

They work in uncomfortable silence for the next twenty minutes until the manual labor takes most of the venom out of them. Fifteen minutes after that. Robin offers quietly without turning to make eye contact, "You can go if you need to. You have your own things to do."

Her defenses back up in an instant, Regina snaps. "I don't want to go!"

Defeated, Robin tries again just as quietly, "Then stay."

"Don't tell me what to do!"

Befuddled, Robin turns to look at her. On the verge of saying something, he thinks better of it, shakes his head, and kneels behind the bar to hook a fresh keg to the tap.

Even though her back is to him, Regina presses on. "Stop it. Don't do that, Robin! Don't just quit."

Tired of being yelled at without understanding the reason behind it, Robin shrugs and raises his own voice. "I don't know what else to do. You don't want to go, but you don't want to stay. I don't have a clue what we're really fighting over. You've been utterly taciturn for weeks, Regina. You aren't really this bloody angry because I wanted you to fill the napkin dispensers. Are you?

Infuriated by his lack of understanding, Regina gives him a harsh look; her next words laced heavily with sarcasm. "Of course not!"

"Well, what is it then? Because if this place is really causing this much friction between the two of us, I will burn it to the ground myself."

Stunned by the force of his words, Regina takes ½ step back, but her voice loses none of its heat. "You will not!"

"The hell I won't!" He shouts back; his blue eyes going stormy with resolve.

Regina blinks; surprised as much by his words as his tone. "I don't want you to do that!"

Robin's eyes dart to the clock on the wall behind him once again and then back to his wife. "If I'm not setting any fires, this place opens in 23 minutes. So, tell me now, Regina. Exactly, what do you want?"

Without a word, she stomps across the room. Behind the bar she retrieves her handbag. When it's clear she has no intention of answering him, Robin hurries after her catching her right arm in his left hand just before she reaches the door.

Whirling to face him, the flint hasn't completely left her eyes, but her voice is much quieter when she says simply, "Let go."

Shaking his head, Robin relaxes his grip, but does not let go. "Talk to me."

"You don't have time."

"I don't have time to pull it out of you. So, don't make me. Just tell me. What do you want?"

Before Robin has time to process, before he's even fully aware of his own backward motion, the mahogany bar is hard at his back and her lips are on his.

Hungry and demanding, she pushes into him insisting on his response until his moment of shock subsides and then they grapple with each other, each of them desperate to get and, to give, enough. They kiss fiercely as if locked in some bizarre form of carnal combat.

When their tussle subsides, he keeps her close, refusing to let go. His breath is ragged, when he whispers, "Wow! You haven't kissed me like that in months."

Regina scowls. "I have so kissed you!"

Robin chuckles "Not like that."

"You've been so busy. You're working so hard we hardly see you anymore, and when you do come home, you're exhausted. You haven't kissed me like that recently either. I guess we've been neglecting each other."

Robin rests his chin on top of her head and murmurs, "We should stop doing that."

"Okay." She purrs seductively.

Robin raises an eyebrow. "What? Now?"

With the gentle wave of a hand, Regina magically ensures that the front door is locked and, with a second wave, that the shutters over the front windows are all closed securely. Trading places with him, putting her own back to the bar and pulling him close once more, she lets him know, "You've got 21 minutes. We can stand here talking about it, or you can find better ways to use that time."

Robin flashes his best smile, his eyes coming alive with tantalizing thoughts he's held in check for too long. "Don't tease."

Regina laughs drolly. Letting go of him, she uses both hands to ease herself up onto the bar. Fisting her hand in his shirtfront she pulls him close again, wraps her legs around his thighs, and whispers, "Do I ever?"

A moment later, they are nearly indecent when the front doorknob rattles softly the instant before the lock is magically disengaged and the welcome bell on the wall behind Robin clangs loudly with the force of the door being thrown open.

Robin swears under his breath and Regina grinds her teeth together, hissing ominously at the interruption.

Zelena takes in the sight of them, throws back her head and laughs with wicked abandon. "I should have known! Don't you two have a bedroom?"

"Zelena!" Regina growls. "What the hell!"

Robin stays where he is, holding Regina close, his body shielding her partially exposed chest from view as he also growls, "Did no one ever teach you the significance of a locked door?"

"Oh please! You don't pay any more attention to locks than I do, thief! Besides, I need Regina's help… Now."

Finally, hearing the urgency in her sister's voice, Regina gives her a moment's worth of attention. Taking in her disheveled and slightly sooty appearance, Regina instantly pulls her silk blouse closed. Holding it that way for the sake of privacy, she eases down from her perch on the bar, and despite Robin's reluctance to let the moment go, he knows that it is gone when his wife queries in mild alarm, "Zelena? What happened?"

Relieved, the wicked witch grouses, "Finally! You notice. I've been looking for you all over town. I've been to your office. I've been to your house…"

Regina smirks. "Never mind that. You're here now. What happened? You look a bit singed."

"That's because I am…" She pauses long enough to close the door and to escort her daughter to an empty chair, and when she lowers her toddler into the girl's lap, Eliana makes a hideous face in protest. However, before the kindergartner can issue a single complaint, Zelena's scolds her harshly "I don't care if you don't like it. You will sit here. You will behave yourself. You will not touch anything, and you will hold your little brother!" As she cups his chin, forcing her two-year-old son to look her directly in the eye, Robin slips discreetly around the bar and into the kitchen for the moment's privacy he needs to collect himself and rearrange his out-of-place clothing; but he can still hear the redhead declare, "Young man, if you set anything in this pub on fire, I am going to set you on fire, got it?"

Young Theo's bright blue eyes widen noticeably, and he shakes his headful of jet-black wavy hair. "Teo, no fire, Mummy."

"Good! Stay with your sister, you little pyromaniac, and don't get into any trouble!" When Zelena glances up to find her sister tying her blouse's sash at her waist and chewing on her lower lip in restraint, she points. "Shut up! Don't you dare laugh!"

Regina shakes her head and holds her hands up in a defensive posture as Zelena carefully unrolls the hastily applied gauze bandage that is wound loosely around her left hand and forearm.

The queen's restrained laughter dries up immediately upon sight of her sister's badly charred and blistered flesh. "Holy mother of darkness, Zelena? Did you reach into the flames this time? You do know you're not flame retardant, right?"

Zelena rolls her eyes and flinches as Regina takes her gently by the elbow and walks her backward until her knees give, and she lands in the seat of the chair that is directly behind her. "I would say that's fairly, not to mention, rather painfully obvious at the moment, sister."

Regina offers up the best of her mortal efforts, but makes slow work of only partially healing her godly sister's wounds, and when Zelena's discomfort eases enough to allow her to focus well enough to finish healing herself, the older of the two nods, indicating that all is well, or soon will be.

Regina picks up her nephew from his sister's lap and rests the boy on her hip. "Listen, little man. You set Mummy on fire one more time, and I'm going to lock you in a dungeon and feed you to a dragon. And, don't you think I won't. I know one personally. We're on speaking terms."

Theo giggles. "Dragon?"

Regina nods. "That's right. Dragon. And you're going to be her dessert! No more setting fire to my sister. It's not nice. It's not funny. You're hurting her."

"Hurt Mummy?" The toddler suddenly looks worried.

Zelena's sighs; the blisters on her burnt flesh still slowly fading from sight. "Don't scare him, Regina. He doesn't understand. He doesn't know what it feels like."

"That's precisely why you need to make him understand that it's not acceptable, Zelena. He can't go to preschool - he can't go anywhere or be around anyone, until he learns that most people feel pain when they get burned. I understand he's exploring. I understand he has to be allowed to do that, but for your own safety, for everyone's safety, there have to be limits." She turns back to her nephew. "Theo, you are not allowed to burn people. It hurts."

"Teo hurt?"

Regina nods gravely. "Yes! Theo hurt Mummy!"

The boy shakes his head, on the verge of tears, and reaches for his mother.

Zelena lifts him from her sister's arms and cradles him close to her chest as his big sister quietly makes a sour face. "Right then, I'm okay. Auntie Regina fixed it, this time, but you've got to be more careful."

Noticing that Robin has very quietly returned, and is more than a little wide-eyed, Regina brings up an idea that she fully expects will be met with resistance. "Zelena… It's time. It's time to start giving him lessons."

Zelena blanches. "You were what? At least 15 before you started learning how to control and manipulate fire? He's only two. He's just a baby, Regina!"

Regina shakes her head "No, I was older. I came late to the practice, remember? But your son is nothing like me. I'm a mortal witch, Zelena. Your son is ¾ deity. He already taps into his power at will, but he doesn't know how to turn it off at will. Zelena, you've got to teach him that this is more than just something he can do parlor tricks with. You've got to teach him that his power is not a toy. You've got to get in front of this. You've got to get control of your son. You've got to teach him how to control himself. You've got to do it now before he hurts someone in a way that can't be fixed. And, while we're talking about fixing and getting control of things, you've got to get control over your own ability to heal yourself, for his sake, as well as your own. You should have mastered that by now."

"I can do it…"

Regina nods. "Yeah, sure. You heal yourself when you're not frustrated, distracted, or in excruciating pain. Which, by the way, is pretty much nonstop these days. You have a child in kindergarten who isn't fond of her little brother and a sweet little boy with a raging case of the terrible twos who shoots flames out of the top of his head, not to mention. the palms of his hands and when he unleashes this ability on his father, lord of all that is dark and unholy, it's no big deal. Daddy can handle it. Daddy was built for it. So was his sister. You, on the other hand, were not. Hades plays with him. That's why he thinks it's a game, Zelena. If they are going to be allowed to play like that, Hades needs to start teaching Theo how to not only turn his ability on, but also how to access the off switch. I know he can do it. He's possibly the only being alive who can. You've been married to him for almost eight years, and, to the best of my knowledge, he has never once burned you."

"This is all very easy for you to say. You're the queen of being one with both the darkness and the light."

Regina laughs derisively. "Oh Greenie! You think this is easy? Two minutes before you walked through that door, I wanted to take Robin's head off."

"Well, obviously he hasn't been decapitated." Zelena gestures toward her brother-in-law. "So, I rest my case."

Having said what she needed to say and praying she was heard, Regina relents momentarily. With a sigh, she asks, "Do you need help getting home?"

"No. I can manage. I brought myself here in far worse condition."

"Zelena, talk to Hades."

She nods. "I will."

"Today."

"He's in the underworld."

"So, that's not a difficult journey for you."

"Regina, lay off."

Regina shakes her head. "I can't do that. It's only a matter of time before he goes full-on flame thrower in public. Zelena, when that happens, people are going to be scared and you know as well as I do that scared people do stupid, hateful, and sometimes dangerous things."

"So, you're talking to me, not as my sister, but as the mayor!"

"Damn it, Zelena! I am both! I'm asking you - for your son's well-being, for everybody's well-being, including your own – please get out in front of this thing before it becomes a problem that I have to address as the mayor. If you don't want me acting in that capacity, don't put me in a position where I'll have to."

With her injured arm still in the final stages of healing, Zelena takes her grumpy daughter by the hand, hugs her son tightly, and disappears from sight in a swirling green vortex of smoke and anger.

Suddenly exhausted, Regina returns to her perch on the edge of the bar. As Robin moves close once again, she closes her eyes. pinching the bridge of her nose as if she's fighting down a headache.

He waits several long seconds, but Robin is the first to speak. "I wouldn't trade places with Hades for every dime in this town."

Regina smirks as she opens her eyes. "It would keep the Lucky Feather permanently in the black."

Shaking his head, Robin settles beside her on top of the bar and drops an arm around her shoulders. "Not worth it."

The outer thighs of his right leg and her left brush together, sparking a new tender fire that neither of them wants to ignore. "You wouldn't have to work ¾ of the night here, and all day elsewhere, just to make the monthly note on this place. You could actually go home at a decent hour."

"Home to what? Big Red, a pint-sized Eva Braun in pink patent leather, and her little brother who starts fires for grins and giggles? No thank you! And, by the way, with a bit more hard work, in six months, if all goes well, the bank will be paid in-full and I will own this place out right."

Regina caresses his face. "Hey!" She whispers softly. Congratulations!"

Robin shrugs "I'm not there yet, love."

"Don't do that! You've been breaking your back. Don't brush this to the side like it doesn't matter. You should celebrate!"

He shakes his head. "Not yet. Not until it's official, and when I do decide I'm ready to celebrate, no parties please. The truth is she's just barely in the black, with precious little overhead."

"But, Robin, you're nearly there! Six more months and you can stop working like a demon-possessed dog. Just run this place."

"That's my hope. "I'm going to finish my current day jobs because… because I have to. I can't walk off the job and leave them undone."

"Of course not. There would be no honor in that."

"Exactly. After that's done, I might take a few more small jobs… Just to give the old girl a cushion to rest on."

Regina nods. "What are you working on during the day? Last time we really talked, for more than 30 seconds, you were helping Hook make some repairs to that weather-beaten washtub he calls a ship."

Robin chuckles. "Don't let him hear you say that. Sometimes I don't know which he loves more - Emma, or that washtub. And, we're still working on that. The job is stalled right now. He's waiting on a shipment of lumber. I did some work for the library. Built ½ dozen bookshelves. Belle was so happy with the work, that she asked me out to Cliff House to refurbish some old woodwork in the study."

Regina recoils slightly in surprise. "You're working out there? Robin! I can't count the number of times I have asked you not to get involved with Gold – not to have any business dealings with him. Especially not now! Not with the way he's been acting since he was separated from the Dark One."

"Regina, I have been going out there for almost two weeks and I've seen him a grand total of one time for less than 30 seconds. I'm not doing business with him. Belle hired me, not him. Even if he is the one paying for it, it's him who owes me money. Not the other way around."

"It doesn't matter, Robin. He's not to be trusted. A thief with honor, he most certainly is not. You know that! What happens if you do all this work, and then he stiffs you for payment?"

Robin's shrugs. "Then he stiffs me for payment, and I never work for him again which works out to be a much bigger problem for him than me, love."

Regina nods in aggravation. "Yes, until the Lucky Feather has a bad month and you need the extra cash you didn't get. Then you can't make the mortgage payment, and he goes to the bank and buys your debt. Then he owns the place, and you work for him because we both know that if it comes to that, you're not going to let me help you. Not financially."

Robin runs his hand down her thigh and shakes his head. "If that happens, I'll invite Theo over to play." He grins impishly. "I'd rather burn her to the ground than work for, or quit, and leave her to be ruined by that spineless malcontent!"

Regina raises an eyebrow. "And if Gold ever learns that arson was the motivation behind Theo's invitation, you'll find yourself behind bars."

Robin shrugs again. "I'll risk it. I've been there before. Jail's not so bad. Especially not when the local sheriff likes you."

Regina laces her fingers through his. "Does anything scare you, Forest Boy?"

Robin nods. "Yeah… Norah becoming a teenager."

Chuckling softly Regina nudges his shoulder with hers. "Rumor has it, we've already seen that."

"I've heard. Doesn't count. I can barely remember it."

"You still have a few years. Not many – but a few."

"Promise me, when she starts throwing fireballs, you'll drill it into that beautiful little rock-hard head of hers that she shouldn't hurt people!"

"She's already learning that lesson from you. Fireballs are not the only way to hurt people, and unlike Theo, she does understand that fire is hot. She learned that lesson when she was 17 months old."

Robin frowns at the memory of his daughter's suffering. "I remember."

"I tried. You tried. We both told her over and over and over again… Don't touch the stove, it's hot. She just wouldn't listen. She got burned one time, and after that…" Regina laughs, "She started telling the dog, "No-no John! Hot, don't touch!"

"I hate that she got hurt, but that minor burn was useful. It taught her something that all our lecturing could not. Too bad they can't find a way to do something similar with Theo."

"There's got to be a way around it. But first, they have to want to get around it. Hades is thrilled beyond all capacity for reasoning to have his very own little hot headed mini-me. And he lives a significant portion of his life in the underworld - a place that was divinely engineered to contain all of that natural combustion. Storybrooke was not. I'm afraid they are either going to have to choose to rein him in, or they're going to have to leave Storybrooke. Like I said a few minutes ago, it's only a matter of time until it becomes public knowledge that there's a junior-grade fire starter in town – one so young that he still lacks the mental capacity necessary to respect the power he wields."

Robin sighs. "So, you're saying there's a storm looming just beyond the horizon."

Regina nods with intent. "A firestorm – unless you can think of a way to convince Hades to permanently crawl back under his rock without incurring his wrath."

"Can we pack up your dad and the kids and leave town? Like, today?"

Regina shrugs as she shakes her head." Don't think so. Not really our style."

Robin clicks his tongue against the inside of his cheek. "Bollocks!"

Regina squints in confusion when he lowers his feet to the floor, steps across the bar, locks the front door, and shuts out the lights. She looks at her Breitling wristwatch. "Aren't you still planning to be open in less than fifteen minutes?"

"Screw it. I know when to listen. You tell me there's a fight coming, that there may be a bloody holocaust headed our way. If we have to stay, then we have to stay. Before the storm hits, I'm damn well going to go home and take a shower with my wife."

Determined not to surrender immediately, Regina bites her lower lip as her dark eyes ignite with the desire lying ready just below the surface. "Uh… Robin, Snow and I are supposed to have a budget meeting in like 14 minutes."

He shrugs. "You're the mayor. Make an executive decision. Postpone it. Tomorrow, you can do what you should've done ages ago and officially make her your deputy mayor. She's already acting in that capacity anyway. You can just make it official. Come on, let her deal with the spreadsheets and flow charts, just this once. Come home with me."


	3. Chapter 3

* * *

When she has looked over and signed the last piece of paper Snow handed her, Regina puts down her pen, picks up a hefty stack of paperwork, and taps it against her desktop to straighten and align the edges before tucking it all into a leather portfolio. As she places the cap on her Dryden fountain pen, she hums with a sense of accomplishment. "Well, that's it. We're done."

Snow looks around the room in surprise paying particular attention to the items that still remain on Regina's desk. "No, we can't be."

Regina spreads her arms wide, indicating the lack of budget-related reports that remain to be seen to.

Snow smiles. "Well that's a first! The quarterly budget report in under…" She looks at her wristwatch. "just under six hours. Either we're getting good at this or…" She shakes her head. "Nope, I'm not gonna say it."

Regina laughs dryly. "Either we're getting good, or we left out something of crucial importance, and it'll come to mind just before it wakes me up at 3:00 o'clock tomorrow morning."

Snow's eyes widen marginally. "You're not serious. Regina, please tell me you don't wake up at 3:00 AM thinking about these things."

Regina shrugs. "Somebody has to. That's how the town keeps going."

"That has to be awful! Of all the thoughts one can wake up to."

"It's not so bad. Robin usually comes tiptoeing in at about 3:15. I like to get one or two words out of him before he collapses into exhaustion."

"Aww, that's sweet."

Regina resists the urge to roll her eyes. "Not always. The last thing he said to me last night before he passed out was, 'Damn tavern. I don't know who's gonna kill me first; her or you."

Snow covers her mouth, suppressing a giggle, and begins to busy herself with packing up her bag. Dropping her voice to a more discreet level, despite the fact that they are alone in the office, she asks, "I take it this was after the two of you rendezvoused at the Lucky Feather yesterday afternoon."

Regina squints suspiciously. "How do you…" She groans; answering the question she hasn't finished asking for herself. "My sister!"

Snow nods. "Don't worry. It stays with me. And I also told her that she might want to at least think about keeping it to herself from that point forward. I told her you wouldn't appreciate the whole town talking about you and Robin. Of course, you know they do anyway."

Regina squints, not really pausing to think about it. "Why?"

"Oh, come on Regina! I know you're more self-aware than that. You don't really need to ask that question. I know you better than most of them. I understand why the two of you make a good match. Most of the rest of the town doesn't. To them you're an – well, forgive me, but an odd couple. The forest-dwelling bandit who used to rob royal carriages and the queen who puts the capital 'R' in royal."

Regina smirks but then shrugs. "Touché. I wasn't aware that you and my sister were on the level of gossip swapping buddies."

Snow shakes her head and almost whispers, as though she has something to be ashamed of. "We're really not. I promise. I know we have to live here in this small town together. I know we're going to bump into each other, but after what happened when Neal was born... I'm sorry, but I don't think I'm ever going to be completely comfortable with your sister."

Regina sighs. "Snow, she's my sister – and I'm not completely comfortable with her."

"Okay, good. Because, I mean, I know you tried to kill me more than once, but at least you never went directly after my babies… Well, not until after Emma was an adult with at least a chance of defending herself… And technically, at that time, she was going after your baby."

"Yes, thanks for the recap." Regina says dryly. "So, then how did you come to be sharing salacious gossip with my sister?"

Every once in a while, she comes down the hill from that Greek pantheon she lives in and tries to mingle for an hour or two. Neal and I ran into her and Theo this morning at Iron Kids. You really should bring Norah by. There are two weekend slots available during the school year; Saturday at 11:30 AM, and Sundays at 4:00 PM at the community center. The kids run around and shake off some pent-up energy after spending most of the week in school. It's in a supervised setting and we moms sit and catch up with each other while the kids play." She grins sheepishly. "Sorry. Of course, you know about it. You're the one who approves the budget."

Regina waves dismissively. "It wouldn't take five minutes before they would ask Norah to leave – and probably never return."

"I'm sure that's not true, Regina! Norah is a good girl. Sure, she's a little - energetic. She runs circles around boys twice her size. But, she's still a good girl."

"I know that, Snow. She requires a bit more room to roam than the gymnasium at the community center can afford her. She climbs on everything. It wouldn't take her 45 seconds to topple that lightweight jungle gym set-up they've got."

"Well, that's okay. That stuff is made to be climbed on by kids. It's meant to be knocked around a little bit."

Regina nods. "But I set that up because I intended for it to be used by kids who spend the biggest part of their day indoors – kids who need the exercise. Forcing Norah to go there even once a week would be like trying to cage an animal that's lived its whole life in the wild. Norah is outside every morning before breakfast. I usually drop her off for her Pre-K class on my way to work. Daddy walks over and picks her up at 11:30. By the time the two of them make it back to our house, Robin is usually up and about and making her lunch. Then, she plays with Robin while Daddy takes his afternoon nap. Robin goes off to work at around 1:30 and Norah drags Daddy outdoors. The two of them ride horses, or wander around exploring in the woods until Daddy runs out of steam and insists on being returned to the comfort of his deck chair on the back porch, where he reads with one eye on the page and one eye on Norah until dinner time. After dinner, more often than not, she begs to go back outside. She would be bored to death with the gymnasium. I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if she doesn't grow up to be some kind of park ranger."

Snow offers a soft smile. "That's her daddy's influence."

"Well, of course! I mean, I don't mind being outside, but after two or three hours, I'm ready for some comfort. My daughter would sleep out there if we let her. She will run circles around the kids at the community center and drive the adults to distraction."

"Isn't she ever still?"

"Only if she's in her father's or her grandfather's lap, and if she gets her way about it, they are outside when she is. We have to forcibly put her in bed every night. More than once, I have physically forced her to lay down and put her head on the pillow. It's a nightly battle at our house. Then, as soon as she does lay down, she's gone. She sleeps like the dead."

Snow laughs. "Of course, she does - with all that fresh air and sunshine. She has to recharge nightly."

"And, there is no waking her until she is ready to wake. If we force her to get out of bed in the morning before she's ready, she's impossible to live with. Fortunately, as long as we put her to bed early enough, she usually rolls out of bed on her own while I'm in the shower. Every once in a while, she wakes me up in the morning - usually with pleading eyes and a loud whisper that has no hope of not waking Robin. 'Mama, I'm starving. If you don't wake up and feed me right now, I am going to die!"

Snow laughs. "I didn't know she was so theatrical."

Regina shakes her head. "Only at 5:30 AM, and only when she is hungry."

"She needs fuel for her day spent outdoors exploring. Dinner was hours ago." Snow justifies. "Starting next fall, a full day of school is going to be hard for her."

"I know. That was my sole reason for insisting on enrolling her in the Pre - K class. Robin didn't think we needed to, but I did it anyway just because I knew she was going to need a slow introduction to the idea of 2/3 of her day spent indoors. Right now, her class is only 2 ½ hours long. Daddy says when they let her out of the building, he has to run just to keep her in sight.

"Oh, that I know. I've seen him run after her. She's keeping him young. Or at least keeping him from getting old… and decrepit. After about the second week of trying to catch her running out of the school building, he adopted a new game plan. Instead of chasing her, Henry simply walks down to the end of the curb where they have pick-up and drop-off. He sits down on one of the benches under that big old elm tree and tells her to run around the bench in circles until she feels like slowing down. And that's just what she does too. Regina, she's so cute. she runs, and she jumps, or hops up and down on one foot. She can even turn cartwheels and stand on her head. Henry just sits there and lets her do as she will until she feels like she can walk at a normal pace… And then the two of them walk home hand in hand."

"Well, that explains it. I wondered how he got her home every day without losing track of her on their walk. He used to chase me around like that too, but he was a lot younger then."

"Weren't we all!"

"You're about to be a grandmother for the second time."

Snow's smile is radiant. "I know. I'm so excited. I swear I can hardly wait. I think people keep expecting it to bother me. I don't know why, unless maybe it's because most people my age…"

"Might still be having their own children?" Regina guesses. "Neal is going to have a niece or a nephew who is young enough to grow up playing with him like a cousin."

Snow chuckles. "Well, that's hardly Emma's fault. Somebody went and cast a curse that made time come to a complete standstill for nearly 30 years for the people of this town."

"And now you probably get to be the youngest grandmother of two in history. Especially when considering the fact that the older of the two is nearly 20… You're welcome, by the way."

"Any day now, he's gonna find himself a girl, Regina. One to get serious about. Then it will be happening to you too. Probably before you know it."

Regina cringes. "I'm too young to be a grandmother. I have a five-year-old."

"I have a 37-year-old. And a 6 ½-year-old. And, I know you didn't raise him as such, but technically…"

"Don't even go there! Henry is no more my great-grandson than you were my daughter… Besides, it just sounds ridiculous. He has a grandfather older than me."

Snow acquiesces. "Okay, fine, we just won't talk about that."

"Thank you!"

"I've got to get out of here. I promised Emma I would drive her to Lamaze class."

Regina rises to her feet. "With Henry away at school in Boston, I haven't seen Emma for a few weeks."

"She stays pretty close to home these days."

Regina guesses, "She's gotten too big to comfortably fit behind the wheel?"

Snow nods. "It's not safe. Her magic has gone all wonky. So, she can't just pop over. In that tiny car of hers, if she has to slam on her breaks…"

Regina nods as well. "She goes belly first into either the steering wheel, or the air bag. "I remember."

Shouldering her bag, Snow smiles dreamily, covers her heart with both hands, and briefly marches in place like an over-excited kid. "David and I will take either one, of course. it doesn't matter which… but, just between you and me, I hope it's a girl!" With absolutely no intent to browbeat or punish Regina, she says, "I didn't get to see Emma grow up. Watching her daughter grow up – it's the only thing in this world that might possibly be even better."

"Well then you better go." Regina declares, fearing she may overdose on sunshine before the woman leaves her office. "You aren't late, are you?"

"No, not if I leave now. And don't worry about yesterday. It wouldn't kill David to knock off work and come home early once in a while. We could use a little alone-time ourselves. I will talk to him about the deputy mayor position."

"What's to talk about? You're already doing the work. I'm just offering to make it official. The position even comes with a paycheck. A small one, but Robin was right, I should've done this ages ago."


	4. Chapter 4

* * *

"Hi Norah! Eliana skips over the Locksley's threshold and hugs her cousin, using the greeting as a legitimate opportunity to whisper in Norah's ear. "I got it!"

When she starts to pat the jewel encrusted cross-body tote she wears across her torso over her ballerina's calf-length tutu and her fairy wings, Norah grabs her hand, concealing the action, and declares happily. "Come on, Elia." She trots away quickly, pulling her redheaded cousin along with her as she announces, "We're gonna go play in my room, Papa."

With the winged feet of youth, they are halfway across the great room before Henry even has a chance to say hello.

Shaking his head at their enthusiasm, the king addresses Zelena with a smile. "Oh, to have their energy again, just for 20 minutes out of the day."

Zelena nods. "Don't I know it! Thanks for this. Sorry for the last-minute notice."

Henry waves the apology aside. "I hope everything is alright."

"Well, it is nothing earth shattering. It's just, I have to take Theo to see the pediatrician. And it's hard enough to get his sister to sit still for two hours when she has an entire house full of toys to entertain her. In the doctor's office, forget it. She gets bored."

"You have to take the little guy to the doctor? That's a surprise. I thought he'd be immune to common bugs."

Zelena rolls her eyes in annoyance but shrugs anyway. "Well, you would think. Wouldn't you? He's not seriously ill. He just has allergies… As odd as that sounds. But then, he is only ¾ deity. The same thing happened about this time last year. He got itchy, watery eyes, and he started sneezing. The pediatrician says he has hay fever. Hay fever! Of all the ridiculous…"

Cutting her off, Henry offers her a handkerchief from the pocket of his waistcoat and discreetly points to the runny nose of the toddler in her arms.

Zelena's sighs as she tries to wipe her son's nose and has to forcibly move his hands out of the way as he shakes his head 'no' and then continues to resist her efforts by placing his small hands on her chest and pushing his upper body as far away from hers as he possibly can while still held in her arms. "Unfortunately, there's a new development. This year every time he starts sneezing, he lights up – both, the crown of his head and his nostrils. I swear he's going to burn the bloody house down if I don't go get him some medicine. Not to mention the fact that people are likely to think he's a dragon. Never mind the fact that they don't breathe fire in human form. So," she sighs. "I'm off!" She gives Henry his used handkerchief back and disappears in a cloud of swirling green smoke taking her son with her and leaving Henry standing there in the doorway; one corner of his soiled handkerchief pinched between thumb and forefinger and held cautiously away from his personage.

On the off chance the kid has something more virulent than hay fever, the old monarch heads straight for the kitchen at the back of the house. As he listens to the sound of his granddaughter and her cousin running noisily through the upstairs hallway, he relegates the monogrammed swatch of cloth with its glittering and slightly iridescent mucus stains to the flames already burning in the kitchen fireplace.

* * *

Upstairs, in her bedroom, Norah closes the door and pauses to make certain that it latches tightly before she crosses the room and flops down on the cushioned window seat.

Eliana deposits her small jeweled tote on her cousin's bed before also shedding her slightly heavier shoulder pack and her wings. Crossing her ankles, she sinks to the floor and tucks one knee, and then the other, under her chin as she loosens the laces on her point shoes and then leaves both the shoes and her tutu lying momentarily in a discarded heap on the rug. Down to nothing but her leotard, she opens her shoulder pack, extracting not only a difference skirt and a pair of sparkly red flats but a lightweight ruby-colored cardigan as well. She quickly swaps one set of apparel for the other, putting the new on over her leotard, and cramming the discarded clothing sloppily into the shoulder bag. As she hangs her wings on the closet doorknob by their shoulder straps, Norah offers, "You can hang your skirt in my closet if you want to, so it won't get so smooshed."

Eliana shrugs. "Why do you care if my skirt gets smooshed? You don't even have clothes like that."

Norah shrugs. "Do too. I don't have as much as you, that's all. Mama always hangs mine up really carefully. She says it's, because if I do it, it will get all wrinkle-y."

"Mum just magics the wrinkles away."

"When we send stuff away using magic, where do you think it all goes?"

The redhead shrugs. "Norah, I don't care. And anyway, don't ask me questions like that, they just make my head hurt thinking about them."

Norah chuckles at her own thoughts. "Probably to the same place socks go when they get lost in the dryer… Wherever that is."

Eliana frowns curiously. "What's a dryer?"

Norah's eyes widen only marginally in surprise. She's used to such questions from her cousin. "It's the big machine in the mud room that blows hot air. You put your wet clothes inside after you get them out of the washing machine, and it tumbles them around and makes them dry again. Daddy hates ours. He always says it makes his socks disappear and Mama always rolls her eyes when she tells him that if he wants his socks hand-washed, he has to wash them himself, or he has to let her hire a housekeeper."

"Norah your parents are weird. I wish you'd come to dance class with me."

"I know. So are yours. But, I don't think I want to go to dance class. Daddy says I don't have to if I don't want to. I'm still thinking about it."

"You are?" Eliana's face brightens instantly.

Norah shrugs. "Maybe. Mama said she would get me some pretty dancing clothes if I want to go."

"You should. It's so much fun."

Norah repeats. "Maybe."

Eliana nods wordlessly as she opens her small tote and slowly removes a carefully folded ivy green pashmina scarf. Laying it in the center of Norah's bed with exaggerated care, she silently opens its folds to reveal the two jagged halves of the dull and lifeless Olympian crystal.

Standing six inches away from the bed, Norah clasps her hands behind her back and observes it with skepticism. "I thought your dad said it was dangerous."

Her blue eyes going big, Eliana nods emphatically, "He did."

"It doesn't look very dangerous. It just looks like a really old broken crystal. It's not even shiny. It's sort of looks dirty, or maybe burned. Where did you find it?"

"In one of daddy's hiding places. I know where all of them are. I know the combination too."

"He put this in a safe?"

Eliana shrugs. It's a little metal box in the wall behind Mum's painting. it has a combination. You have to punch the buttons in the right order."

Norah nods. "It's called a safe. And if that thing is really very dangerous, then that's not a very good hiding place for it."

"Huh, why not?"

"Because Elia, you're only in kindergarten. You found it, and you stole it. So, too easy. He needs better hiding places. You should show him some. Uh, you know, after you give it back."

"Hey! I did not steal it!"

"Did you take it without asking permission?"

"Yes."

"Then you stole it."

Not liking the idea at all, Eliana shakes her head insistently. "When we're done using it, I am going to put it back."

Norah giggles. "Doesn't matter. You still stole it."

"You told me too!" She crosses her arms over her chest. Besides, I am not a thief! My dad says your dad is one, and he doesn't sound very nice when he says it either."

Norah shrugs. "El, your dad doesn't sound very nice most of the time he's talking. And anyway, I don't care if you stole it. You need it. You're trying to help your parents, remember. I'm just saying, if you are gonna do something, at least know what it's called."

"I tried putting the two pieces together, but they won't stay together."

"Huh?"

"I used the spell Mum taught me for tying my hair up the way I like it, but every time I try something weird happens."

"Weird like what?"

"Here, watch." Eliana lifts her hands. On the verge of summoning magic, she suddenly stops and grabs Norah by the arm. "Well, don't stand there with the sharp end pointing at you. Come over here beside me."

Moving over slightly, Norah complains, "El, I'm way far away from the bed."

Eliana shakes her head emphatically. "Not far enough. You come stand over here by me. I'll show you why."

Grimacing slightly because she doesn't understand what the big deal is, Norah steps to Eliana's side and waits.

Eliana closes her eyes and concentrates on binding the two broken halves of the crystal together. Particles of green and pink magical energy emerge from her outstretched palm and flow through the air coming into contact with the pieces of crystal. Momentarily, the small gap between the two pieces closes. They thunk together softly and, for an instant, both halves glow an iridescent blue-white with the greatest brilliance concentrated at the split. Both halves of the crystal rise and levitate 6 inches off Norah's bedspread shaking slightly in the air. For one brief moment, Norah thinks it's going to work. She's certain the two pieces are going to merge and become one when, all of a sudden, violent cobalt blue sparks shoot out in all directions and the two broken pieces of crystal burst apart and jettison in opposite directions as if each half of the crystal were trying to repel the other. One piece flies off the bed, and slices through the air only to crash land on one of Norah's bookshelves; sending a small collection of her books tumbling to the floor. The other glides through the air with no less velocity and soars through the open closet doorway and violently stabs into the plush belly of Roland's old toy monkey. For one horrifying moment, the thing begins to transform into its former self. It grows larger and more lifelike and begins to sprout ugly gray leathery wings. Then, the burst of power dies and the toy transmutes back into itself.

Both girls stare-wide eyed. Norah's mouth stretches into a grim line and turns down at the corners rather comically and Eliana stomps her feet as though running in place and ducks slightly as though she might dive under the bed before she whispers, "Boy, it never did that before. All it did was fly around the room and crash into my stuff.

Norah whispers back, "That's Roland's monkey. The one that tried to get him, but Mama changed it to a toy before it could grab him.

"A monkey tried to grab Roland?"

"Yeah, it was a long time ago… Before you and me were born. It was one of your mom's flying monkeys. Mama did magic on it and it changed into a toy and fell out of the sky. Roland still loves the toy even though he says he's too big for it now. He calls her Reggie."

"Mum doesn't have any monkeys here now, only in Oz… And they are uuuggg-ly!" How come Roland's monkey is in your closet?"

"Sometimes I hide her from him."

"Why?"

Norah stares at her cousin as if it should be obvious. "So, he can come find her and take her back to his room."

"Why?" Eliana repeats querulously

"It's a game we play."

"For fun?" Eliana squints at this foreign concept.

"Well yeah. Don't you ever play with Theo?"

"Uh-uh! Not unless they make me."

Knowing better than to argue with her, Norah places her palm against her forehead. Shaking her head woefully, she chooses not to reply. Changing the subject instead, she says, you just need the pieces to stick together long enough for your magic to work. And… Maybe you need stronger magic."

"Nor-rah! I am a goddess. I have stronger magic than all of the witches and magical creatures in this town."

Norah holds up her hands defensively, expecting more of an argument when she says, "El, don't get mad. You are only ¾. And you are six. Your mom is only half goddess and she is stronger than you because she's older and bigger. So, maybe you have to be a grownup goddess to make it stick for keeps."

"Well then, what am I supposed to do? No grown-up is gonna help us do that Norah. They will just take it away from us and tell us that we are too little to mess with such things - and you know it!"

Norah grimaces. Her cousin is right. She stares at the broken crystal pieces lying on her floor with what Eliana already knows is her 'thinking' face.

She stares at the crystal for so long that Eliana is just about to poke her on the arm to make sure she didn't freeze that way when Norah says suddenly, "Stay here. I'll be right back and pick that thing up. Hide it somewhere in case Papa comes upstairs." She's out the door, and a few steps away when she turns back.

Knowing what she will find, Norah whispers, "And Eliana, hide it someplace better than behind your back. Don't be standing there like a doofus with your hands behind your back if Papa comes in."

Departing once more, she races downstairs, and out the backdoor.

Catching sight of her as she runs at top speed through the kitchen, Henry calls out, "Hey bumblebee, where's the fire?"

She calls out as the door slams behind her, "I'm just going to get something I left outside. I'll be right back."

Henry chuckles and talks to no one but himself. "That girl moves faster than lightning."

Outside, she makes a beeline for the old carriage house on the property were Robin stores his tools. Then, hoping that her grandfather is still seated in the kitchen, she rounds the house and reenters through the front door, allowing it to slam no less quietly than the back door had less than 5 minutes before.

Back upstairs again, Norah stops by her room to store her pilfered items under her bed and races out again leaving her cousin, who is 10 months older staring after her in confusion and mild exasperation. Racing up to the third floor, she visits her parents' bedroom, where she stands on tiptoe and borrows something from deep in the back of one of her mother's lingerie drawers.

Trotting back down to the second floor, she stops long enough to peer cautiously down the hallway and make sure that the coast is clear all the way around her bedroom.

Dashing in again, she pauses long enough to make sure that the bedroom door is locked before depositing a small wooden box on her bed, and lifting the dust ruffle to reclaim a half used roll of duct tape and some curious looking metal thing that Eliana is not the slightest bit familiar with.

Hissing in quiet confusion, Eliana doesn't know whether to be curious or worried as she asks, "Norah, what in the ham sandwich are you on about now?"

Norah opens her mouth to speak but then finds her thought process interrupted. "Eliana, you should stop saying that. It doesn't make any sense – and, it confuses me. And anyway, look here, just wait and watch.

Eliana scowls but shrugs. "The crystal is under your pillow."

Norah helps herself to the two broken halves of the crystal. Using her teeth to tear off a long piece of duct tape from the purloined roll, she draws another scowl from her cousin.

"Don't do it like that. Norah, princesses do not tear things with their teeth. Use scissors."

Norah rolls her eyes. "Mama says I'm not allowed to use scissors unless an adult is watching me." She holds the two broken ends of the crystal together in one hand, and winds the tape around their middle multiple times until the entire length of tape is used and she's reasonably certain that it will hold tight. Then, she lowers herself to the floor and crosses her legs Indian style.

Eliana shakes her head. "Norah… If my magic can't hold that thing together, then what makes you think your daddy's ugly old tape is going to do it?"

Norah rolls her eyes. "This is just for extra 'sticky' until the binding spell starts to work better so the pieces won't fly apart. Plus, I brought more stuff. Just wait."

She lays the metal C-shaped clamp down flat on the floor and moves to face Eliana before placing it between the two of them. She makes quick easy adjustments, tightening the vice clamps firmly down against either end of the crystal. Next, she informs her cousin, "Give me your hand." When Eliana complies without reservation, Norah holds tight, and quick as a hiccup, before Eliana has time to question or complain, Norah opens the small wooden box from her mother's bureau and draws out a very sharp dagger. She neatly and swiftly pierces the center of the redhead's palm with the point of the ceremonial blade.

While Eliana whispers loudly, "Oww! Hey! That's not nice! What did you do that for?" Norah shushes her and subjects her own tender palm to the same treatment. Without bothering to answer, she clasps her cousin's hand in hers, smashing the minuscule bleeding punctures together as she says simply, "My blood. Your blood. Our blood." Then she bobs her chin once for emphasis, and says, "Do it again, Goddess." Then, just before Eliana starts again, Norah says with quiet excitement, "Wait, wait, wait! Let's get off the rug first. If it starts doing that sparkler thing again, only worse because it's stuck together, I don't wanna leave a mark on the carpet. Mom will have a cow!"

Eliana nods with a comical grimace and the two girls scoot off the rug onto bare floor where they make certain that the two ends of the crystal run parallel between their knees and that, if it should break apart again, it will not travel in either of their directions. Curious, Eliana asks, "What is that metal thing?"

Norah shrugs. "Daddy uses it to hold pieces of wood together while he waits for the special glue to dry. It works. It holds stuff really tight. I just hope we don't break it."

Eliana shrugs as well and inspects the speck of blood still present in the center of her palm again before joining hands with her cousin.

Once more she turns her focus inward, closes her eyes and concentrates as hard as she can on the only binding spell she knows or has any practice with.

Slowly, and growing in brilliance, the ends of the crystal not covered by gray tape began to glow a spectacular blue-white. The crystal begins to tremble harshly, causing the metal vice on the floor to rock noisily. Norah reaches down with her free hand and touches it. Her intent is to hold it in place, so that it will not make noise, but she jerks away quickly, causing Eliana to open her eyes curiously as both the crystal pieces and the vice grip go completely still and lifeless once more.

"Sorry." Norah shakes her hand about in the air. "It's hot. It almost burned me."

"Then don't touch it!" Eliana sighs and tries again.

The exact same process begins anew. Only this time, because the ends cannot repel each other, the crystal and the clamp glow white hot, start to shimmy against the floor and then slowly begin to rise into the air as if the entire ensemble is being pulled straight up in the air; rising and bobbing gently as if the metal clamp were tied to the end of a string on an invisible red helium-filled balloon.

The two girls rise with it, coming ever so slowly to their feet and watching in wonder as the shared power they possess wells from deep inside and begins to mingle between them.

It takes several long seconds of utter silence but just when it feels like their magic might overflow, the metal C-shaped clamp and the crystal it holds thump softly against Norah's bedroom ceiling; 15 feet overhead. The crystal begins to admit a low frequency hum and the sparkler effect has stopped. Instead of shooting off sparks in every direction, the power emanating from the crystal is a white starburst of steadily pulsing light that is so pure it makes their eyes hurt to look at it. Then, in the next instant, the light is completely extinguished, and the clamp is overtaken once more by gravity. It plummets for the floor with both girls reaching out to catch it just in time to avoid a loud crash. They release it just as quickly because of the heat that is still fading, but sitting on their knees, they stare at it wordlessly for several long seconds before Norah finally dares to use the sleeves of her shirt to protect her hands as she quickly releases the clamps while being careful not to hold the plastic coated release knobs too tightly, or for too long. When they no longer need the clamp, she leaves it where it lies and waits.

She stares at Eliana and Eliana stares at her.

When Norah can hold her hand over the taped crystal while barely wincing, she wraps it in the numerous folds of the green pashmina scarf again and, hurrying to unlock the bedroom door, she pokes her head out and make sure the coast is clear before motioning to Eliana.

Eliana follows dutifully, but without comprehension as Norah dashes across the hall to the bathroom and turns on the cold water tap in the tub. She drops the stopper into place and waits until the bathtub contains enough water to completely submerge the crystal. Then she drops the crystal in and shuts off the tap as steam instantly hisses, pops, and begins to rise from the tub to fog the bathroom mirror.

Then Norah closes and locks the bathroom door and returns to the bathtub where she sits down on the tub's edge and makes herself comfortable,

Eliana squints. "What do we do now?"

We wait. I'm not touching that thing again until I can get the tape off without getting my hands hot. When it cools, we'll take the tape off and see if it worked."

* * *

In the carriage house that sits on the eastern side of the Locksley property, Norah and Eliana sit on the lid of the large rectangular Kenmore freezer eating homemade frozen fruit juice bars flavored with raspberry and pineapple amid the type of things one usually finds in a garage.

"You need the chocolate and banana flavored ones. I'm gonna tell your mum to get you some."

Norah shakes her head emphatically. "We have those at your house! Mama says they have too much sugar. She makes these herself. If you tell her that we have chocolate and banana at your house she will tell your mom to stop buying them."

Eliana suddenly looks horror stricken. "You don't think Mum would really do that, do you?"

Norah shrugs. "I'd rather not find out. These are okay, they aren't the same, but they still taste good. Just be happy we get to have the others when we're at your house."

Eliana nods numbly as if the very thought traumatizes her. Suddenly pineapple and raspberry doesn't seem so bad. After a silent moment, she cocks her head to one side and asks a question that has been on her mind for the better part of two hours. "Norah… Why did you hide my dad's crystal under the baby cabbages in the freezer?"

"I'm not hiding it. I'm freezing it."

"I thought that was why you put it in the bathtub with the cold water."

"No. I put it in the bathtub water to make it not be hot anymore. So, it wouldn't burn us. Now I'm freezing it."

"Why? It's not hot anymore, Norah."

"Cause that's what Daddy did when Roland put the same tape all over his new boots."

Eliana squints and shakes her head in confusion. "I don't understand."

"See, Mama got Roland some new boots. His old ones were too small. He hadn't had the new ones for very long when he got a great big ink stain all over one of them. He didn't want Mama to know. He thought she would be mad at him because he was using the ink for her fountain pens again, and she tells him not to do that. She's told him a bunch of times. So, he tried to hide the stain by using half the roll of Daddy's tape on his boots. He put so much that Daddy couldn't get it off without messing up the boots. I didn't understand either, but Daddy put Roland's boots in the freezer and left them there all night long. The next morning, when Daddy tried to take it off the boots the tape almost fell off. I guess the cold from the freezer made the tape not stick so good anymore. I don't want the tape to leave sticky stuff all over your dad's crystal. So, I put it in the freezer. Get it?"

"Norah! I cannot leave that thing here all night!"

"Calm down! It's okay! Don't yell. Daddy said the boots only had to be in there for a couple of hours. He only left them in there all night, because he put them in the freezer at bedtime, and he had to go to work."

"Oh. So, we can take it out soon?"

"You'll have it back before you go home. Eat your fruit bar before it melts. You're dripping it on your sweater."

Eliana grimaces but then shrugs and she pats the stain dry. "How do you know it's been almost two hours?"

"Because, we watched two shows on TV. Papa said that was almost an hour. Then we played Guess Who and Candyland. Now we're having a snack. The has to be almost two hours, doesn't it?"

Eliana shrugs. "I don't know. Sounds good to me. In a little while, we can get it out, take the tape off, go back to your room, and see if it works."

Norah shakes her head. "We are not going back to my room to see if that thing works. We are going to the woods. We are going to the wishing well where magic is strongest in town."

Eliana sighs dramatically. "I don't mind the wishing well, but do we have to go to the woods?"

"Eliana, that's where the wishing well is. Even if it wasn't, you are not going to use that thing in my bedroom."

"Why not?"

"Because you said you wanted to bring the Underworld to Storybrooke."

"Yeah, so?"

"Elia, I do not want dead people in my bedroom! Especially not the entire underworld full of them! What if they are all ugly and rotten like zombies?"

"They aren't. They just look like people. They're not scary."

"Well how am I supposed to know that. I've never been to the underworld!"

"Because I just told you."

"Okay but…" Norah shakes her head. "It doesn't matter. I still don't want dead people in my bedroom."


	5. Chapter 5

* * *

Hades, Lord of the Underworld swallows a magnificent sip of Mavroudi, one of the oldest of Greek wines. Its fine bouquet delighting his olfactory sense the instant before he laughs snidely. "Cora, you know, you really are quite entertaining. Did you really think I wouldn't notice?"

The Queen of Hearts rises from her chair and tries not to bristle with indignation as she feigns ignorance. "Maybe you shouldn't imbibe so indulgently Hades. Less wine might afford you a bit of clarity."

"I know each and every person that resides here Cora. I know each and every person who is granted a temporary visit. I know each and every heart that dares to beat in this place. The underworld is my domain. The underworld is my kingdom; and you… You were granted a certain amount of prestige when I selected you to oversee things here in my frequent absences. I didn't expect an outpouring of gratitude, nor am I naïve. I knew - I knew that once you'd had enough time to become comfortable with your new appointment, you'd do something utterly self-serving but, common thievery? Really Cora?"

The queen's eyes narrow ominously. "How dare you call me that!"

"Call you what? Common? Or a thief? Because I'm not sure which you resent more. We both know just how common you really are, despite all of your highbrowed attempts to prove otherwise. If you don't like being called a thief, then I suggest you try not acting like one. Especially not when you, of all people, know how closely the underworld and all of its inhabitants are monitored. Yesterday at precisely 2:47 PM, while I was in Storybrooke playing with my son - your grandson, I might add - you went through my collectibles, you found the Agraban staff, you transformed it, and for one brief glorious moment, The Sultan's greedy little boy thought he was free; didn't he? 'Thank you' was probably dancing sweetly on the tip of Jafar's forked tongue when you snatched his beating heart out of his chest, plunged it into your own, and then returned him to his previous form and walked away as if all was right in hell."

Cora sniffs indifferently her chin raised in defiance. "So what? I've stolen nothing of value. Only his heart. He wasn't using it. You've turned him into a shepherd's walking stick."

Hades guffaws loudly as he points to his own chest. "Me? You think I transformed him? Me, Hades? Ruler of all that is dark and unholy? Cora, come now. If I had transformed Jafar - into anything, be it a shepherd's crook or the most holiest of grails, you wouldn't have even the slightest hope of reversing said transformation; no matter how momentarily. Furthermore, transformed or not, his heart, along with the rest of him, now belongs to me. I paid for him, fair and square. You have stolen my property, and for what? You are still stuck here - a condition which you aren't likely to remedy without my personal assistance. Even if you should somehow manage it, even if you do find yourself topside again, you really should know a little something about human organ donation and the horrors of what can happen to a person who has not been properly matched with the transplanted organ they receive. It's bad Cora, very bad. You may be a powerful witch, and you may be the grandmother of demigods, but you, my dear mother-in-law, are still human. Still regrettably mortal and therefore, subject to the pitfalls and perils of such beings. Once you are free of this place, if ever, your magic may help you avoid rejection of the purloined heart that now beats in your chest for a brief time, but unless you and old Jafar just happen to have matching blood types, and are otherwise suitable candidates for transplant, your body will reject the organ without, or possibly even with, proper and immediate medical care, and your time away from the underworld will be infinitesimal in the grand scheme of things. Before you know it, you'll be right back here and in much worse shape than you are now. After your failed escape, I'm not likely to be nearly as generous."

Cora stands before him with her hands on her hips and squints suspiciously. "Generous? My, but you are delusional, aren't you? Not to mention a terrible liar."

Enjoying himself, Hades asks, "Oh, how have I lied?"

"There isn't any reason at all why his heart shouldn't work as well for me as it did for him… Better even. I don't intend to stand around blithely while someone turns me into what amounts to a crutch for the infirm. I don't care how finely crafted or how many precious jewels it's encrusted with."

Hades shrugs. "Fine. Don't believe me. Give it a go. I won't stop you. If you can find your way out of this place, I'll let you go. But, before you die an agonizing death, only to be returned here, I'd have a word with your other son-in-law, if I were you. I doubt Robin Hood will be able to help you combat the effects of organ rejection, but he might give you some pointers on how to be a better thief."

"You!" Cora cries aloud. Mad with rage, but not half mad enough to think her magical ability any match for his godly prowess, she flies at him physically, only to have her wrist caught in his vice-like grip the instant before her palm connects with his cheek.


	6. Chapter 6

When the wishing well is in sight, Norah breaks into a trot. When she reaches it, she climbs up and sits on top of the well with Eliana trailing several feet behind. "Hurry up Elia."

"You could slow down." The redhead accuses cantankerously, her normally pale complexion pink with exertion. "Why do you have to move so fast?"

The evening breeze tosses Norah's dark curls about haphazardly "I wasn't going fast. I just wasn't going slow. And, because, I have to be home before it gets dark."

"Why? You're not Cinderella. You're not going to turn into a pumpkin."

"The carriage turned back into a pumpkin at midnight… Not Cinderella, and anyway, that's not even the real story. It's just the one people in this world believe."

"It's silly to be scared of the dark. There's nothing to be afraid out."

"I'm not afraid. It's just a rule. I have to be in the backyard before it gets dark. If I'm not there when Mama gets home. She will come find us. So, if you don't want her to know about this, we better hurry."

"We can just use magic to go back."

"Okay, but we still need to hurry up."

Eliana removes the Olympian crystal from the pocket of her red sweater. "The freezer really did take all the tape off."

Norah nods. "Yeah, but El, that isn't the way the crystal looks in Henry's storybook. It's got that big crack in it. Maybe we shouldn't use it."

Eliana groans laboriously. "You made me come all the way out here. Now you're gonna be a big baby?"

Norah rolls her eyes as she looks up at the twilight sky. "It's not that far to walk out here. It just takes a few minutes. "I'm not a baby. I'm just asking, what if that thing doesn't work right because it's got a crack in it. I don't want you to get hurt."

"I won't. I'm a goddess. I can do this. You might get hurt. You should move further away, or at least get down off the edge of the well."

As Norah eases her feet to the ground, Eliana slips a folded piece of paper from the same pocket that held the crystal. Curious, Norah steps to her side and looks at the rudimentary pictures the page exhibits. "What's that?"

Eliana lays the paper down flat on the edge of the well and places the crystal on top of it to keep the breeze from blowing it away. It's a switching spell Mum taught me… Just for fun."

Norah almost smiles; excited by the thought of a new spell for two seconds before she suddenly frowns. "A switching spell? Like for switching the places of two different things so that they trade places?"

"Yep. Cool, right?"

For a moment, Norah doesn't move at all. She simply stares at her cousin with equal parts uncertainty and worry. When she finally does speak, she says slowly, "Eliana, you told me you wanted to bring the underworld here so that your dad could be here more often. If you're bringing the underworld here with a switching spell, what are you going to put in its place?" Storybrooke?"

"No. I'm not doing that."

"Then what are you doing?" Norah demands, suspicion seeping into her young voice."

Eliana grins with satisfaction. "I'm gonna switch Daddy with Theo."

Norah sighs heavily. "It won't work. If you do it - even if you do it right - your dad will just go get Theo and bring him back."

"Not if I banish Mummy and Daddy from the underworld so that they have to stay here… With me." Eliana picks up the crystal, and closes her eyes, summoning magic.

Even as Norah contemplates what her cousin intends, small vibrant cobalt blue streaks of lightning spark into existence only to quickly sputter out and die as, horrified, Norah steps forward. "Eliana, No!"

"Yes," The redhead objects with determination and tries harder, summoning power with all her might.

The wind whips harder, tearing at their hair and their clothes. Dark ominous clouds begin to drift over the horizon, blotting out what's left of the sunlight.

Violent blue lightning shoots vertically from the uppermost point of the crystal as Eliana holds the crystal high over her head and rips the sky as Norah lunges. "No! I won't let you do it, Eliana." The brunette child struggles for and grasps onto the crystal for as long as she can even as its heat sears her flesh. Eliana fights to push her away, but Norah holds her ground.

"Eliana, please, I know you don't like him, but he's just a baby! You can't leave him alone in the underworld all by himself with just those dead people, without your mom or your dad to take care of him. Something bad will happen to him Eliana. He's your brother!" Norah shoves her away, and because she can't hold on any longer, she knocks the blazing crystal from Eliana's grasp.

The crystal tumbles through the air like a cartwheeling flame thrower and both girls duck for cover as bolts of lightning are thrown end over end to set the treetops aflame before the God of Thunder's misfiring talisman plummets into the magical watery depths of the well that is home to the only source of power that keeps the town of Storybrooke in existence.

Red faced and livid, Eliana peers out from behind the trunk of a huge ancient redwood as she shouts, "Now, look what you did!"

Eliana stalks toward the well.

For a single moment, Norah watches the crystal dim noticeably, and she thinks that the lightning shooting into the sky is about to die. However, as it begins to rain wildly, instead of dying out and vanishing from sight, as it should have after losing contact with Eliana's power, the surge of lightning intensifies, and the ground beneath their feet begins to shudder violently. When wide cracks begin to split the earth, radiating out from the base of the well, Norah shouts 'Eliana, No!" one last time and, because she knows her cousin won't listen, she springs to her feet and runs as fast as she can. Tackling Eliana, slamming into her with her full body weight, Norah goes down hard as a blinding explosion of light sets off car alarms, and causes household windows to explode, all over town.

* * *

When dry lightning first begins to flash in the western sky, Henry Covarrubia assumes, the way any knowledgeable man of his age would, that they are in for an electrical storm. Moving the dutch oven containing the night's dinner away from the fire, he steps out onto the back porch to tell his granddaughter and Theo's sister that it is time to come indoors. When he realizes that neither of them is within sight, he calls loudly, "Girls, time to come inside."

When Norah doesn't answer immediately, he steps off the porch. Hunching his shoulders against the unexpected wind as he goes, he makes his way to the carriage house. When he finds it unoccupied, a fissure of mild worry escapes his brain and races down his spine.

Forcing himself not to give into panic, he makes his voice firm. "Norah!"

He returns to the backyard as the first fat raindrops begin to fall and he catches the scent of smoke on the air even before he sees it rising into the sky above the treetops. He's eight feet from the back door and the safety of the warm kitchen when every window in the barn explodes and rains glass down on him.

* * *

The two girls watch in horror as the gaping cracks in the earth's surface grow wider and longer with each passing second until the exterior wall of the well becomes unstable and cracks as big chunks of brick topple and plummet into the well.

Shouting so loud it makes her throat hurt, Norah orders, "Come on Eliana. Move now! We've got to clear off. We've got to get away from the well!"

Eliana gives no indication that she heard Norah.

Norah shakes her frightened cousin vigorously, trying to get her attention, but the redhead's eyes don't budge from the crumbling well. Desperate to be on the move, Norah tries to force Eliana to her feet, but the girl simply isn't capable of moving. She's frozen; held in place by her own terror.

Pushing down her own instinct for flight as the ground quakes beneath her knees, and frustrated with her cousin's fear-induced paralysis, Norah grabs her by the collar of her sweater and shouts belligerently, "Eliana Kronopoulos, I swear, if you don't move right now, I am going to punch you in the face!"

Eliana blinks. For a fleeting moment, she makes eye contact and then she slowly shakes her head. Finally, able to move, she tries to pull away from Norah. Once she's on her feet, she moves quickly for ½ dozen steps, but then loses one of her shoes and thoughtlessly turns to retrieve it."

Norah yanks on her arm. "Will you come on!"

"My shoe!" Eliana reaches for it; her fingers outstretched.

Norah growls and retraces her steps. Stomping as she goes and pointing over her shoulder in the general direction of her house, she orders, "Don't stop. Go!"

Half of the well's exterior wall has fallen, and the other half is collapsing from lack of proper support. On the move again, Eliana finally manages to put some distance between herself and danger. Turning her tear-stained face in Norah's direction one last time, she squeals in horror as the earth beneath her friend's feet gives way and a massive chunk of rain-soaked soil breaks away and slides into the well, taking her screaming cousin with it.

"Norah!" Eliana shouts, and when there's no answer, she pleads, "Norah."

Desperate to go back to the dilapidated well, yet too terrorized to do it, six-year-old Eliana flees, paying no mind to the darkening sky or the forest with its flaming treetops.


	7. Chapter 7

* * *

Regina talks to Robin through the partially opened door of the private washroom inside her office. "Henry's not coming home this weekend. Let's give Daddy a break and find out if we can leave Norah and Roland with the merry men. Let's run away from home for the weekend… Just you and me."

Robin chuckles. "Last night wasn't enough?"

Poking her head out the door, Regina smiles at him. "Never."

"Where are we going on this weekend excursion, mi'lady?"

"Don't know, don't care."

"That's not like you. Feeling adventurous?"

"At this point, I will settle for you, me, and a cheap motel room."

"Then why do we have to go anywhere. I'll get the boys to look after the short people and we'll just stay home."

Regina hums in disagreement. "Won't work. Daddy lives there, remem…" She stops short and, on reflex, ducks behind the washroom vanity, her knees hitting the floor at the sound of multiple panes of glass imploding. After the long moment needed for her nervous system to begin to function properly again, she bellows, "What now?"

Her question is met with dead silence. Not that she really wanted an answer, but when one isn't forthcoming, she experiences that tell-tale first taste of fear, and it doesn't just lie bitterly on the tongue. When she calls Robin's name and receives no reply, the fear floods her throat and threatens to strangle her as pure adrenaline seizes the rest of her body.

Without making a conscious choice to move, Regina finds herself standing in her office with the wind and rain that she scarcely notices pelting her from nearly every direction courtesy of the obliterated windows.

"Robin!" She croaks.

Frustrated at first because she doesn't see him anywhere, and then terrified because the only place where he could still be out of her line of sight is on the floor directly in front of the sofa; her brain cries out "No!" as she rounds the sofa, and then, the instant before he thoughtlessly removes the large shard of window glass that is protruding from the right side of his neck. she literally does scream, "Robin, no!"

Her objection puzzles him, and his confusion is clearly visible on his face as that piece of glass slips from his fingers and arterial spray spurts from the side of his neck in perfect rhythm with the beat of his heart. Somehow disconnected from the moment and temporarily beyond the capacity for rational thought, Robin tentatively fingers the wound in his neck and then stares at his own bloody hand in astonishment.

Before the seriousness of the situation takes root in his mind, Regina is on her knees again, directly in front of him this time, and roughly pressing his palm down over the wound.

As Robin winces in pain and tries to ease the pressure she's employing, Regina shakes her head. "Keep the pressure. I know it hurts, but it's bad Robin. Stay still. Don't move. I'm here. I'll fix it. You're going to be fine."

She covers his hand with both of hers and he can feel his blood oozing through his fingers on to hers and, for some reason, this agitates him. He doesn't want to bleed all over her. So, he tries again to move away.

Regina grabs a fistful of his hair and yanks hard enough to get his complete attention. "I said, be still. Do not make me sit on you!"

When he doesn't dare to so much as wiggle, she covers his hand with both of hers again, and in the next second, he feels a tender warmth begin to emanate from her palms as it wraps itself around his neck.

It takes several long seconds before he can literally feel the jagged wound in his neck beginning to close and when he winces slightly, he watches his wife flinch.

"Am I hurting you? Is it too hot?"

He tries to shake his head and she growls, "Damn it, Robin, be still! Quit moving!"

He whispers, "No. Doesn't hurt anymore."

Regina frowns and whispers back, "Don't talk thief. Just let me fix it."

He whispers again. "Not all the way."

Regina glares at him with unmistakable consternation. "Would you like me to let you bleed to death?"

"Of course not. Just leave the scar." He flashes a weakened version of his usual smile.

Regina shakes her head. "Robin! You will look as though someone tried to slit your throat!"

"And failed." He shrugs with a grin.

With the blood still seeping from his neck, Regina is comfortable enough with his likelihood of survival to roughly thump the heel of one hand against his shoulder. "Men!"

"Why are you shouting at me, love? There's nothing wrong with my hearing."

"I'm shouting at you because the thought of being here without you, pisses me off! Robin, I don't think you understand just how serious…"

He gently covers her mouth with the hand that's not covered in blood, and whispers, "I understand that you're here, and I'm not about to go anywhere. Even if I wanted to, you're not about to let me. I am fine."

"You're sure? You're not hurt anywhere else?" She looks him over, her hands searching for any unseen injury.

Taking hold of her hands to still their frantic inspection, Robin offers dryly, "I feel alright. I don't seem to be able to stand up though."

Regina gruffly nudges his shoulder, encouraging him to turn slightly as she lifts his shirt and searches his back, waist to shoulder, for any sign of injury. "Why not? It doesn't look like there's anything wrong with your spine."

Chuckling, Robin shakes his head. "There's nothing wrong with my back. I can't move because my wife is sitting on me."

"Well that happens when you pull a gigantic piece of glass out of your own neck! Don't you know you're not supposed to do that? The glass creates the wound, but sometimes, the same piece of glass can also apply enough pressure to keep you from bleeding to death. You're not supposed to remove it yourself!"

"Have you enrolled in medical college without telling me?"

"Of course not, wise ass, but I did raise a son. Almost single-handedly. You learn a few things that way – things you might not otherwise know." Rising to her feet, Regina silently takes in the sight of her windblown office littered with countless shards of broken glass. Shrugging she offers him a hand before pulling him roughly to his feet. "Get up. We have to go…" When Robin takes an involuntary step back to stabilize himself, Regina clutches at him.

"Bit light-headed, I guess." He grimaces.

"You lost a lot of blood in a relatively short amount of time." She puts her arms around him and steps intimately close. Searching his face, she inquires quietly, "Can you manage, or do I need to drop you at the hospital."

Robin shakes his head. "No, I…"

Without warning, the door to Regina's outer office bursts open; startling them both. Wild-eyed and frantic, Leroy shouts. "You have to do something Your Majesty! It's disappearing."

Glowering in annoyance, Regina declares, "Leroy, I swear, if you don't learn to knock, I'm going to electrify my office door!"

Belatedly observing the physical closeness of the married couple, the dwarf turned would-be town crier self-consciously removes his cap and clenches it nervously in his hands as he lowers his eyes for a single moment of uncharacteristic discretion. "I'm sure you'll pardon the intrusion when you…" He turns his gaze to Robin suddenly, "She can't do that, can she? I mean, not magically?"

Robin glances at his wife with a raised eyebrow before he shrugs. "I wouldn't put it past her. I don't really think it matters whether she does it magically or by any other means. Best to start knocking just to be on the safe side, mate."

"Next time then, sister. We got bigger problems right now."

"So, I gather." Regina imparts drolly. When he doesn't speak again right away, she prods irritably. "What exactly is the problem, Leroy?"

"Sorry, I thought I told you. It's disappearing!"

"What's disappearing, dwarf?" The clock tower? The Jolly Roger? Peter's pumpkin patch? Granny's diner?"

"No ma'am! The town!" Leroy stretches his arms wide, flapping his cap in the air for emphasis. "The whole town."

Regina squints. "Leroy, are you high on fairy dust… or are you just drunk?"

I ain't had a drop in months, Your Highness but if the town is literally going to disappear from existence, I think now sounds like a grand time to fall off the wagon."

"Don't be ridiculous. In the first place, getting hammered won't help anything. In the second place, the town is not disappearing. It's not possible that could happen without my knowing about it."

Snow and David appear in the open doorway. "Possible or not, it's happening Regina. Very slowly, but it is happening."

Robin steps away from his wife and walks to the nearest window and pushes back the rain-soaked sheer panel curtain that is flapping noisily in the robust wind. After a single glance, he makes eye contact with her and simply nods.

"Robin, that's not…" Stalling her argument, Regina groans and pauses long enough to join him at the window. Sure enough, the world beyond the town square is getting smaller. The town line, or at least the scant portion of it that she can see from where she stands is literally moving. It's moving at a snail's pace, but as the town geographically shrinks, a small portion of the post office is no longer visible from her window. The building is literally disappearing from view. The part that is still visible is in perfect condition, it simply appears as if someone divided the floor plan into segments and quite literally only constructed ¾ of the building.

Regina turns confused eyes to her husband. "What the hell?"

Robin shrugs. "I was hoping you could tell me."

Snow speaks up again. "Whatever is going on, everybody's windows are blown out. At least all the windows on Main Street. I'm guessing that's true everywhere else in town. Looks like your office was no exception. Why are you both covered in blood?"

Regina waves away the other woman's burgeoning panic. "As you can see, windows busted here as well. Robin caught a large shard of glass in the carotid."

Snow's eyes widen instantly in alarm. "Oh god!"

"He's fine. I was here." She moves toward the door; Robin's hand in hers.

Snow states the obvious. "People are going to start to panic, Regina."

The queen nods. "Then we'd better stop standing around talking about it and see if we can figure out what's going on before that happens."

David comments dryly as they leave the office, "It looks like a tornado hit in here. Is your sister up to something?"

Regina heads for the front entrance with ground eating strides. "That's a very good question, shepherd. Plan A – find out what's going on. Plan B- stop whatever is going on. Everyone will likely head to Granny's looking for information. Everyone should make sure that their own family members are all present, accounted for, and not seriously injured. Snow, check on your kids. David, stop by the pumpkin patch; get beans – as many as you can. Meet us at Granny's. Plan C – move people inward, away from the town line. That way, hopefully we don't lose anyone. If we can't stop it, we will open a portal and execute a mass exodus back to the Enchanted Forest."

"We might wind up back there permanently if we can't stop whatever this is." Snow bites her lower lip.

"Better someplace familiar than scattered to the unknown with no memory of this life, Snow."

"I know. I was just really looking forward to a nice safe hospital delivery for Emma and her baby."

Regina pushes through the doors at the main entrance to the building and steps out into the wind and rain, leading the way. "Emma's tough, Snow. She survived her own birth in the Enchanted Forest only to be put into a magical wardrobe minutes later. She gave birth to Henry in jail. She will do what she has to do."

Because there's nothing else she can do, Snow nods as she touches David's face. I'm going to get Neal. I'll find you at Granny's."

* * *

When no one answers her knock at Emma's front door, Snow tries the knob and, finding the door unlocked, she lets herself in and follows the sound of anxious voices to the kitchen.

Standing in the archway, she hesitates before interrupting the lively conversation taking place between her daughter and son-in-law.

"Did you hear me, love? It's nearly half gone. The half that's not gone is sitting there as if all is right with the world."

Killian Jones' heavily pregnant wife pays no mind to the polished silver hook that he waves excitedly as he talks. Instead, she nods lazily, appearing to be largely unconcerned with the predicament that has him so animated as she tucks two thin slivers of ripe green avocado in between the folded sides of a loaded taco shell and munches with abandon; already focused on making another before she's even finished eating the first.

"Emma!"

Discreetly shielding her full mouth from view behind a paper napkin, Emma nods shifting food around before she declares. "I heard you. Town disappearing, Boat going with it, panic in the streets!" She swallows and points to her well-rounded belly. "Precisely what would you like me to do about that. Call Dad. He's acting sheriff. I'm on maternity leave and, in case you haven't noticed, our baby is hungry."

Hook points at her dramatically with his gleaming prosthetic. "First, a point of clarification, my love. It's not a boat. It's a ship. Second, I don't think this is a 'sheriff' kind of problem. What is your dad going to do about the fact that the town seems to be slowly but steadily removing itself from existence? I'm thinking this is probably more of a 'savior' kind of problem."

Emma shrugs and helps herself to another big bite of taco and a sip of cranberry apple juice to wash down the spicy salsa. "Too bad the savior is on maternity leave too. This doesn't sound good."

Leaving his perch on the seat nestled in the kitchen's big bay window, young Neal steps around the couple unobserved and joins his mother in the archway.

Snow quickly helps herself to the boy's windbreaker from a nearby peg on the wall, and waste no time zipping him into it. She raises the jacket's hood before pulling the drawstring snug under his chin.

Ready to go, Neal seems to understand that time is of the essence and quietly slips his hand into Snow's.

"Well, maternity leave or not, you have to do something!" Hook reasons.

"I am doing something. I'm feeding our baby. If the town is disappearing, somebody else will have to do something about that. If they can't, I guess that means we're leaving. If we're leaving, we're probably going back to the Enchanted Forest - and the last time I checked, tacos were not in abundance there. So, seeing as how this might be the last one I get for a while, or maybe even forever, excuse me if I want to enjoy it."

"You're just going to stand there blithely eating a bloody plate of tacos?"

"No. I'm going to go get my jacket while I eat these bloody tacos." She announces drolly, deliberately using his turn of phrase to mock him. Politely easing passed her mother and brother in the doorway, she says absent-mindedly, "Hi Mom," as an exasperated Hook follows after her.

"You have to do something. There's a whole town of people out there."

Emma nods. "Yes, and right now, they all need help. What would you have me do? This morning I tried to zap a big ugly looking spider that apparently took up residence in our shower overnight, only, instead of hitting the thing with magical lightning, I threw friggin' skittles at it."

Hook chuckles quietly and mutters, "Taste the rainbow." under his breath, leading his wife to glare at him until he acquiesces and pats the air in what he hopes is a calming gesture. "I remember. I'm the one who had to come rescue the poor creature. You terrified it. Two seconds longer, and it would have surrendered its own life, all eight legs would've been straight up in the air."

"So, what do you want me to do? Light the disappearing town sky with fireworks? Because right now, that's about all I'm good for."

Hook chases after her as she walks around their living room, eating tacos with one hand and tossing needed items into a backpack with the other. "You stop it, right now! That is not all you are good for! Regina had these kinds of problems too when she was carrying Norah. When it mattered, when it really counted, she was always able to do something."

Emma turns on her heel hotly. "If you're so impressed with Regina's abilities, maybe you should go have a baby with her!"

It takes a second for her words to register and then Hook shakes his head as he takes an involuntary step backward. "That's absurd, love. Try not to be so sensitive."

Emma's face goes scarlet in an instant.

As fire flashes in her daughter's eyes, Snow steps in, patiently clearing her throat. "I'm afraid you two will have to have this discussion later. We need to move."


	8. Chapter 8

* * *

Arriving in their backyard courtesy of her ability to transport herself and others magically, Robin and Regina find themselves soaked to the skin by the now driving rain in a matter of mere seconds.

Robin's gaze turns, as it often does, to the trees. As his wife's ears immediately register the nearly frantic tone of her father's voice in the distance, Robin's eyes widen noticeably.

"Fire." He declares with alarm, instantly stepping toward the house, and finds himself more than a little confused when Regina pulls in the opposite direction.

"Where do you think you're going, mi'lady? We need to protect the house."

Regina grimaces. "Let the house burn. Don't you hear Daddy calling the girls."

Belatedly, Robin does hear the voice of his father-in-law calling out, demanding to be heard above the noise of the thundering storm. "Norah! Eliana!"

There is a momentary pause and then the old man shouts, "Norah Beatrice Locksley, if you can hear me, answer me at once!"

"Something's wrong, Robin."

With his hand still tucked into hers, Robin has to run to keep up with his wife. "He sounds scared, Regina. I don't think I've ever heard your dad sound scared… At least not since Norah was born."

Regina moves forward at an absolutely alarming pace; paying no more mind to the smoke in the air then she does to the uneven ground underfoot or the elegant footwear she currently sports that is entirely inappropriate for an early evening hike. "There isn't much that does scare Daddy, Robin. After raising me, he's nearly shockproof… Something's wrong!"

Robin instantly forgets the fact that there's a raging forest fire headed straight for their house. "If he's out here calling for Norah, that means she's not in the house."

Regina nods dourly. "Now you're catching on, thief." Without waiting for a response, Regina shouts, "Daddy!"

It takes a moment before the unseen king shouts back, "Regina!"

"We're coming! Stay where you are!"

They leave the clearing their house is situated in at a breakneck pace, and as the trees become thicker with each step, so does the smoke."

"Daddy!" Regina calls out several times more at 20 second intervals.

Each time Henry answers, Robin knows they're closer to finding the man, and Regina plows on, oblivious to tripping hazards and low hanging tree branches. When she calls out again, and it's obvious by his latest reply, that they've passed Henry by, his daughter stops, turns this way and that, and calls out, "Where are you?"

"To your left, I think."

A few moments more, and despite his passion for tromping through the woods on any given day, Robin finds himself struggling to breathe and staring at his flat-soled boots as he marvels at his wife's ability to remain upright on stiletto heels while moving at the speed of a gazelle over uneven terrain in a forest that is rapidly filling with a thick smoke that severely restricts proper lung function.

Ten steps to her left and Regina stumbles over the gnarled roots of a mammoth old cedar tree and still doesn't go down. She rounds the massive tree trunk and literally barrels into her father, who throws his arms around her in a protective gesture as he takes several steps backward on impact.

Holding her close, he bellows once again, "Norah! Eliana!" and then strains, listening hard for even the softest of replies.

When no response comes their way, Regina asks, "Eliana is here too?"

Henry nods gravely. "Your sister called. She needed to take the little one to see the doctor. She asked if Eliana could visit with Norah instead of going along."

"How long have they been missing?"

"Not more than 15 minutes ago I checked on them before going into the house to start dinner. They were in the carriage house, sitting on top of the freezer eating popsicles. They were laughing and being silly. They were happy."

Regina coughs. "How long have you been out here calling for them?"

"Maybe four or five minutes. They aren't in the apple barn or the garden. They aren't in the carriage house. Every window in the house exploded, Regina. A moment ago, I thought to call John Little and ask for help with the search, but Roland is with him and I didn't want to scare the boy. There is glass all over the grounds, and I don't know for the life of me where all this rain and wind suddenly came from, or where the fire came from, for that matter."

"We can sort all that out later; if there's time. For now, let's just find the girls."

Henry nods. "If there's time?"

Robin nods. "The bloody town is disappearing as we speak."

Henry raises an eyebrow. "Please tell me you're joking." His gaze swivels like a tennis spectator's as he eyes Norah's parents. When neither of them offers the confirmation he hopes for, Henry sighs heavily. "Then I suppose we'd better get on with it."

Regina conjures three bandannas out of thin air and offers one to each man before tying the third over her mouth and nose in the hopes of lessening the life-threatening dangers that come along with smoke inhalation. "It's going to be dark soon. And the girls wouldn't move toward the fire. They have to be somewhere between it and the house… Unless they're trapped on the other side of it. I'm just not sure they could get that far away from the house in ten minutes time… unless they were playing around with magic. If that's the case, they could be anywhere in Storybrooke."

Robin shakes his head. "Norah's not going to get that far away from the house this close to dinner time." He thinks about it briefly and adds, "At least, not without Eliana's influence. Let's look for another ten minutes. If we don't find them, we'll get help."

The three of them fan out. Calling out in earnest for the girls, and they keep the barn at their backs as they move in three separate directions, each one sending up a silent prayer that the girls will turn up, frightened but unharmed. The deeper they move into the forest, the thicker the smoke gets.

Regina shouts until her throat is raw, and when she's near enough to the well to see actual flames and burning trees, she realizes that if it weren't for the rain, the wind would have whipped the fire into an inferno that would likely consume the entire forest.

She's just about to turn and go back to the place where she left Robin and her father when she catches sight of something in her peripheral vision that stops her dead in her tracks.

"Robin! Daddy!" She shouts her daughter's name and breaks into a dead run that is fueled by adrenaline born of terror.

With her hands out in front of her face doing what little they can to shield her from low hanging tree branches, she plunges onward not caring about the intensifying heat or the sharp stinging sensations she feels every time any part of her body comes into contact with dense forest foliage. Just as the destroyed well come's into her field of vision, Robin's arms are around her, nearly toppling her.

He spins her around to face him as she struggles wildly trying to free herself. He shakes her gently. "Love, where the bloody hell are you going?"

"Robin, let go. Norah!" Regina points frantically at the crumbled well which is visible dead center between two flaming trees.

"And, you're just going to walk into that clearing? Without any proof she's there? The last time I checked your body wasn't flame retardant."

"I don't care!" Regina shouts belligerently. She's there. I know it. I saw smoke."

"Regina! We all see smoke! The damn trees are on fire!"

Regina slaps him. "Not that smoke! When was the last time you saw a forest fire that gave off pink smoke? Let me go!" She shoves him so hard that Robin falls on his ass and before he has time to recover, much less get to his feet, his wife is moving again.

Coughing badly, Robin struggles to stand and, although he knows it's pointless to do so, he shouts, "Regina stop!" as he starts after her again. He's still a dozen steps behind her, when he finally sees what has her so determined.

In the distance, in the open air above the collapsed well, a mauve-colored spark suddenly illuminates the air briefly before it fizzles into a soft puff of smoke that is almost instantly extinguished by the rain. His daughter is sending up a tiny little emergency flare and If his attention had been turned elsewhere for a single second, he would have missed it entirely.

"Norah!" Robin bellows and charges after his wife, no longer concerned about the fire or the damage it might do to him. He only covers half the distance between himself and the well before he feels a startling pressure against his chest. Puzzled, and frustrated by the impediment, he looks down to find his wife's left hand splayed firmly in the center of his chest.

She leans into him, using all her body weight to hinder his progress.

Robin shakes his head. He knows better, and still he argues, "Move Regina."

Still blocking his path, physically holding him back, Regina shakes her head and extends her right arm. Palm open to the air, fingers splayed, she releases a blast of pure white magic that drives back the flames twenty feet in front of them.

Robin blinks twice, still awed by his wife's capabilities.

Regina calls out, "Hang on, Norah. We're coming baby." And then, "Daddy, stay where you are. Don't come any closer. It's not safe!" Only once she's sure that Robin won't dart around her does she dare to remove her left hand from his chest and use it to create an impenetrable magic shield around their bodies.

Once again, Regina breaks into a run, this time with Robin hard on her heels. He manages to gain a small lead over her, but before he's an arm's length away, he feels her arms encircling his waist tightly in the same instant that his feet leave the ground. It isn't until he feels himself making the long descent into the well that he realizes that she has taken a running leap and transported mid-air taking him along with her.

Just when he worries that they will hit bottom with a painful self-injuring thud, or land on top of Norah, he feels Regina slow their descent and veer sharply to one side causing them to collide roughly against what's left of the deteriorating walls of the well the moment before they're up to their chests in water.

When Regina re-materializes, she is already over half submerged and reaching out to support Norah's head. Pressing an ear to her daughter's chest, she listens briefly before commanding "Norah, can you hear me? Open your eyes, baby. Look at me."

Norah neither moves nor responds.

Her parents share one fleeting look of agony and then shove it down deep inside.

Norah's nose is, rather thankfully, barely above the water's surface because most of the well's contents seem to be flowing into a large secondary channel perpendicular to the well that looks as if it were recently created by some sort of explosion and, for some unknown reason, the water appears to glow faintly.

Regina tries to lift Norah's head higher and realizes it's not possible. "Robin, she's stuck. Something is holding her down."

Robin tries to look around, and Regina offers him a bit more light by cradling an orb of white magic in the palm of her free hand. With more light comes awareness of an injury to Norah's right temple."

Regina touches the seeping wound with tentative fingers and swallows, refusing to allow herself to panic.

Willing himself to do likewise, Robin shakes his head. "I don't think I can go under with her in this position. There's not enough room down here for the three of us. We're packed in like sardines. You're smaller through the shoulders. See if you can manage it."

Regina goes under and it takes a few seconds of maneuvering before Robin is aware of her moving heavy things around below the surface.

Frantically, she begins digging their little girl out from under fallen chunks of brick and mortar with as much speed as possible.

Twenty seconds after he begins to worry about her suffering oxygen deprivation, Regina surfaces and breathes deeply for several more seconds before she can say, "Her foot is caught under a big piece of the wall. It's too big for me to move on my own, and I don't dare use that much magic that close to her foot, but I think I can untie her shoe and pull her free. I just need…" She inhales deeply twice more and goes under again.

She's down for only another 15 seconds before Robin feels her hands at his waist. This confuses him until she releases the snap on the scabbard that holds his knife, and then he wonders if Norah's shoelaces are knotted. Norah has only recently learned to tie her shoes without adult help, and Robin must still frequently work knots out of her laces in the evenings.

"Hang on, Norah." He tells her. "Mama will have you free soon."

Norah makes a small, nearly inaudible, noise in the back of her throat and another small pink flare erupts high over their heads.

"Hang on, Firefly." He says, his voice thick with emotion. "We're here with you. We'll get you out."

The weight holding Norah down dissipates and as Robin pulls her into his arms, cradling her against his chest, Regina re-emerges with her bandana down around her neck and his knife clenched between her teeth.

"I think she's still trying to signal for help." Robin points to the sky as the last stream of pink vapor disappears.

Regina returns his knife to its proper place as she glances upward just for an instant and quickly re-evaluates what they had seen when they were still above ground. "That's not a signal. She's trying to transport, Robin. She's trying to get herself out, but she's barely conscious. I'm not sure she even knows we're here."

Accepting this new bit of information, Robin nods doggedly and places his mouth against his daughter's right ear. Kissing her, he says, "It's okay, Norah. Don't try. Mama is here. She will get us out."

Regina touches the girl's forehead. She pushes Norah's curly hair away from the wound and, when her hands begin to glow softly, Robin interrupts.

"Normally, I'd say go for it. Heal her before we move her around too much, but the walls are still crumbling. I think we had better get out of here now, before we're all buried alive."

Glancing around, Regina nods and presses her body tightly against Robin's, deliberately sandwiching Norah between them.

Even though he knows she won't respond, Robin whispers in his daughter's ear. "Time to fly."

Once above ground, Regina does not stop until she spots her father. She touches down only long enough to take him firmly by the hand and then they are off again and when they appear next, Robin finds himself standing on their back porch.

Not a fan of the magical transport method of traveling, Henry swallows deeply against the rising lump of bile in his throat and asks, "Eliana?"

Regina coughs harshly as she shakes her head. "Not with Norah." Not addressing either of the men, she adds, "Zelena, Hades, if either one of you can hear me… We need some help. Now! Eliana is in trouble!"

Robin lowers Norah to the porch floor and Regina kneels quickly.

Most concerned about the wound at her temple, Regina focuses on that first, and then applies her touch to Norah's chest, just in case the girl swallowed too much water.

It takes so long for the healing process to show any sign that it might be working that both Robin and Henry have to make supreme efforts to hold their tongues and not distract Regina by asking, "What's taking so long?"

Norah finally whimpers.

Robin smiles and squeezes her small hand gently. "You're okay, Firefly. We're here. We've got you."

Norah moans and struggles to sit up.

"Lay back down. Be still, Norah and tell me where it hurts. I'll fix it."

Norah holds up her badly blistered left hand, offering it to her mother.

"You got burned." Regina tenderly clasps the little girl's hand in both of hers.

Norah tries to speak and has to clear her throat first. She winces and touches her throat as tears spring to her eyes.

Regina moves one of her own hands and places it gently against her daughter's neck.

After another full minute of healing, Norah tries again. Sounding more than a little raspy, she says "I didn't think it would still be so hot."

Regina squints. "What? The fire?"

Norah shakes her head and gingerly pulls the bib pocket of her overalls open wide, stretching the fabric. "It fell into the water before I did. I picked it up after I fell in. I didn't think it would still be hot, but it burnt me before it vibrated quite hard and the walls fell in on me."

Robin squints. "What the hell?" He reaches into Norah's pocket intent on extracting the barely glowing patched-up crystal if for no other reason than to get it away from his daughter's chest.

Too late, Regina shouts, "No don't touch…"

Norah shrieks in horror as her father is magically absorbed and pulled into the crystal, disappearing from sight.


	9. Chapter 9

* * *

"You unrepentant bastard!" Cora shouts. Her last syllable is truncated by a pain-filled yelp as Hades' vicious grip halts her incoming assault. Jerking her twisted wrist free of his grasp and staring at it in blatant shock that she knows she should not feel, she accuses, "You burned me!"

Hades smirks, the crown of his head fully engulfed in vibrant cobalt flames. "And you stole from me. You're lucky I've not done far worse."

"Oh please! I left the Agraban staff right where I found it. What do you care? Neither you nor Jafar were using his heart. Don't think that every person down here in the underworld wouldn't do the same thing given half the opportunity. We don't choose to stay down here with you because of you're winning pers…" The rest of her tirade falls away unfinished as Cora looks around, suddenly confused. "Hades, what is this place? Where have you taken me?"

"What are you talking about? I haven't taken…"

Hades's gaze jerks left and then right as he takes in his surroundings. He knows where they are, but he can't recall making a conscious choice to be here, much less, bring Cora along for the trip. "What the… I didn't bring you here, Cora."

"Of course, you did."

"I did not. I wouldn't. Zelena wouldn't like this."

His comment, and the life-size portrait of her daughter over the marble fireplace, lead Cora to make an educated guess about where they must be. She adjusts her posture. Straightening her spine and raising her chin slightly, she takes on her usual role as disapproving royal. "Please tell me this is not where my grandchildren live. There's not a spot on the floor untouched by shattered window glass."

Too alarmed to bother being offended by her indignation, Hades steps away from her, glass crunching underfoot as he goes. His gaze searches the perimeter of the drawing room in the palatial villa Zelena had built for him. Stepping toward the grand staircase, he calls out, "Zelena, Eliana… Theo?"

When he receives no answer, he turns his focus inward and is instantly alarmed by the massive jumble of panicked messages he receives courtesy of his omnipotence.

Still convinced he's up to something, Cora sighs, "What is the meaning of…"

"Be quiet!"

"I beg your…"

Hades rushes toward her. Closing the distance between them in three ominous strides before seizing her by the throat where blisters similar to those already on her wrist instantly erupt. Seething with equal parts fear and loathing for the self-important woman shuddering before him, he hisses darkly. "Your daughter and grandchildren are missing. I am trying to figure out where they are. It would appear that, certainly, every window in this room, and possibly every window in this house, has been obliterated. From what I can discern, it sounds as if the entire town of Storybrooke is in fight or flight mode. In case you haven't looked outside, it's storming; and the only time it ever storms like this is when my eldest brother is enraged about something. I need to focus. So, until I figure out what the hell is going on, woman, you will shut up! Defy me, and you will never speak again."

* * *

While eyeing the man in the white coat with suspicion, Theo stands on the exam table and snuggles deeper into the security of his mother's embrace. He rubs his itchy watery eyes as he shakes his head vehemently. "No touch Teo!"

Weil smiles at his patient. "I just want to listen to your chest. It won't hurt. I promise."

Just as stubbornly as before, the toddler shakes his head. "You not touch Teo!"

Far from giving up, Weil says, "Hey, I know…" He removes the stethoscope from around his neck. "What if you listen to my chest first? Then you will see, it's not scary. It's even kind of cool." He holds the instrument out to the boy and Theo watches him with circumspect, curious, but still wary.

Weil lowers his voice to that coaxing tone he reserves for patients under four feet tall. "Here watch. You put this top part in your ears." Weil leans toward the boy and very slowly places the upper ends of the stethoscope into his small ears. "Then, you take this other end and hold it against the patient's chest… "The doctor tucks the opposite end of the stethoscope under his lab coat and directly over his heart. And if you're very quiet, and you listen very closely…"

It takes a full three seconds before Theo's eyes widen in wonder. Then, he looks confused. He reaches for the end of the stethoscope that Weil still holds, and when it's offered, he scowls at it, and shakes it about in the air before handing it back to Weil; who places it once again against his own chest.

Theo smiles and reaches out for the chest peace again. Next, he places it against his mother's chest.

Smiling encouragement, Zelena moves the head of the stethoscope over to the proper side of her chest and waits.

Theo grins and makes mouth noises, trying to emulate what he hears.

Zelena moves the chest piece and places it directly over her son's heart.

His eyes widen again, and he moves the stethoscope out of his way long enough to peer down the neck of his shirt at his own small chest as if he expects to see something he's never seen before.

Weil chuckles. "It's on the inside. You can't see it just by looking. But your heart beats faster than mine or Mom's, doesn't it?"

Theo places the stethoscope against his belly and makes a new face.

Weil laughs at the boy. "Yeah, that's a different noise, isn't it?" He returns it to Theo's chest, tucking it inside the collar of his shirt. "Here, you hold it, right there. Don't move." Moving with exaggerated care, the doctor reclaims the upper end of the stethoscope and returns it to his own ears. He listens briefly and then moves the chest piece, placing it gently against the boy's back, first on the left side and then the right, listening to his lungs. When he's done, Theo reaches for the ear tips again and Weil accommodates him; reaching out to place them back in the toddler's ears,

Without warning, Theo sneezes violently and shoots fire from his mouth and nose, catching the medical man wholly unprepared.

Weil yelps loud enough to frighten Theo, who instantly reaches for his mother.

Zelena cradles the boy on her hip. "It's okay, big boy."

Weil hopes his eyebrows weren't just singed off as he quickly sheds his white coat with its instantly charred sleeves, tosses it to the floor, and stomps on it to extinguish the flames. He tries to unbutton the cuffs of his shirtsleeves, and the simple act comes with enough pain to make him wish for oblivion. He groans inwardly. He's going to have to get Rachid to attend to his arms. Grinding his teeth together, to keep from swearing in front of his young patient, he declares, "Well, that's a new one. You didn't tell me he was part dragon."

Zelena bristles indignantly. "He is no such thing! How dare you! This is the son of Hades!"

Weil listens to himself in complete astonishment as he tries to appease her. "My apologies. I meant no disrespect. Only that, a little warning would've been nice."

Zelena narrows her eyes. "I thought you were supposed to be intelligent. Even if he were part dragon, which he most certainly is not, dragons do not breathe fire in human form, doctor."

Weil nods helplessly. "I will call in a couple of prescriptions over at The Dark Star; an antihistamine, and a decongestant for him. Follow the instructions the pharmacist gives you." He hands her a child's lollipop from the container on the counter near the room's wash basin.

"Please excuse me. I'm going to need help to deal with these burns on my arms." He flees the room feeling like he's moving in slow motion and praying he doesn't pass out before the wicked witch and her fire-breathing son have vacated the premises.

Theo gives his mother a worried look.

"Don't you worry, darling. It's not your fault." Holding up the green lollipop, Zelena distracts her son. "We'll go get your medicine. You'll feel better soon. Are you ready to go home?"

Theo reaches out with both of his chubby little hands and grasps the treat with enthusiasm. Without waiting for his mother to remove the plastic wrapper, he shoves the lollipop into his mouth and then scowls comically.

Zelena gently tugs the lollipop free of her son's mouth and disposes of the plastic covering before she returns it to him. "There, is that better?"

Theo nods, babbling around his sweet reward the moment before he unexpectedly disappears in a teal-colored burst of flame.

His mother gasps in surprise as a nurse steps into the room.

"What? Theo?" Zelena quickly steps around the end of the examining table to the other side, searching for her son. When she doesn't find him crouched there, playing an impromptu game of hide and seek, she checks the storage cabinet beneath the sink.

No Theo there.

The room's privacy curtain hangs from a narrow tract in the ceiling and it's fully open; pushed to one corner of the room. Although it's not currently in use, Zelena quickly investigates, making certain that her wayward child isn't hiding between the curtain and the scant section of wall it touches.

Still no Theo.

The nurse frowns and questions dryly, "Does he normally vanish without warning?"

Vexed by the incompetent woman's lack of understanding, Zelena snaps. "No. He doesn't vanish without warning! Sometimes at home he starts playing hide and seek without telling us first. But I don't think he vanishes. He just wanders off when nobody's looking. I've never seen him do this. I don't know what this i… Hang on! Yes, I do! The wicked witch smiles radiantly. "His first transport! I… Yes, I asked him if he wanted to go home…" She picks up her handbag. "I've got to dash. I've got to catch up with him. Hades is going to be thrilled!"

She vanishes from the room in a swirl of excitement and green vapor leaving the startled nurse standing in an empty exam room.

* * *

Zelena enters the villa magically. Already halfway up the grand staircase, she trots toward the nursery. Calling out with enthusiasm, "Theo! Where's mummy's big boy?" She steps into his bedroom. instantly disturbed; as much by his absence as she is by the sight of broken glass, she returns to the hall at a run. Looking this way and that, she repeats, "Theo?"

Surprised, but pleased with her arrival, Hades calls out to her, "Zelena?"

She quickly returns to the stairs and glances down into the drawing room. "Hades, where's Theo? Have you seen him? Why is there broken glass everywhere?"

He raises an eyebrow in concern. "He isn't with you?"

"Hades, he's done it. He's had his first transpo…" She approaches him. Intending to embrace, she comes up short with a scowl. "Mother? What are you…"

Cora preempts her daughter's less than eloquently stated question. "Hello, darling. It's lovely to see you, too. I thought I'd drop by for a little vi…"

Not in the mood for stiff propriety, Zelena cuts off her mother's reply. "Hades, what is Mother doing here with you?"

"Never mind that. I will explain later, after I figure it out for myself. Theo isn't with you?"

"No, he isn't. That's what I was trying to tell you. He's had his first transport - or, at least, I think he has. Where is he? Can you sense his location? He should be here somewhere in the house. I took him into the doctor's office to get him some medicine for his allergies. He sneezed and burned the hell out of Weil. He left to go get his nurse to patch him up, but, before he did, he gave me a prescription and I asked Theo if he was ready to go home." She offers her husband a dazzling smile. "He vanished in a burst of teal colored flames." She snaps her fingers. "Just like that."

"When? How long has he been away from you?"

"Just a few seconds. Long enough for me to get here, that's all."

"That's about as long as we've been here. And, we didn't arrive by choice."

"Theo?" Zelena calls out hoping for a response. "What is that supposed to mean? You didn't arrive by choice? If not by choice, then how?" She rushes on, her mind elsewhere, not giving him time to answer. "Maybe he's in the kitchen. Maybe he wants a snack." She quick steps toward the rear of the house with her husband and her mother close behind.

Leaving the drawing room, she bypasses two parlors, the concert hall, the grand ballroom, the sunroom, the room Hades has dubbed her private emporium, and the dining room.

Having never had the privilege of being here before, Cora manages to glance curiously beyond the threshold of two rooms in passing before Hades catches her at it, and magically slams all the doors along their current path shut.

"Don't be so nosy, Cora. You won't be here long enough to make yourself at home."

Cora presses her mouth into a thin line and resolves to wait for a better opportunity, sensing that now is not the time to press her luck.

Zelena glances over her shoulder, briefly making eye contact with her mother. "That's the part I don't understand. How are you even here?"

Hades answers. "I haven't figured that part out yet, my love. Cora and I were having a disagreement. The next thing I knew, we were both here. Somehow, I have been moved from one realm to another. I suspect Cora is only here because she was touching me at the precise moment I left the underworld."

"What do you mean, you've been moved?"

"As I said, it wasn't by my own choice."

"Hades, the only beings powerful enough to move you across realms without your consent are deities – and only the most renowned ones at that. It's not something that can be accomplished by accident… And, I do hope you're planning to explain why Mother was touching you."

Hades shrugs hoping to convey that it really isn't anything that she need be concerned over. "She got caught doing something she shouldn't have been doing. She was unhappy. She, rather unwisely, attempted to strike me."

Zelena raises an eyebrow, her gaze pivoting as she takes in the sight of the badly burned and blistered flesh at her mother's wrist and throat for the first time. She presses her lips together in a halfhearted effort to contain the sudden snort of laughter that gets trapped in the back of her throat. "Really, Mother?" She has no interest in a reply as she steps over the threshold into the kitchen. When Theo is not immediately within sight, she crosses the room and ducks into the large pantry momentarily and then returns shaking her head. "I've already checked his room, Hades."

He nods and his wife watches his face go blank. Familiar with this empty expression, she waits silently; shaking her head for the second time, scowling in annoyance when it becomes clear to her that Cora is on the verge of speaking.

In less than two seconds, the blank expression on Hades' face shifts to one that clearly conveys alarm.

This time, Zelena doesn't wait. "What? What's wrong? Where is he?"

Hades scowls in confusion. "He's in the underworld."

Zelena demands, "Where is he exactly? Is he scared?"

Hades grins with unmistakable paternal pride as he shakes his head. "He's playing in the throne room."

"Of course, he is." Zelena laughs. "Oh Hades, he hasn't even transported within this world yet. To transport between realms his first time out - he must have really wanted to see you."

Hades shakes his head, suddenly very uncomfortable with his own thoughts. "I'm afraid that's not likely, my dear. Children, even children of deities, start by traveling short distances. Across rooms, from one side to the other. And then later, room to room. Yes, they generally start using their abilities sooner than the children of mortal mages, but travel between the worlds and dimensions, comes later. It's an advanced skill. As of yet, Theo rarely even calls for items across the room."

"So what? Maybe he's just getting a late start."

Hades shakes his head. "Understand darling, I am not disparaging him in the least. He's going to live considerably longer than any of his cousins. He has decades, possibly even centuries longer, to hone his abilities; whatever they may be. He's not getting a late start with teleportation, though. Zelena, even if he doesn't start using his power to travel for another decade, he will still be getting an early start. It can take years, possibly even a mortal's lifetime to manipulate and master the power of the gods. Consider your own progress. You've known about your father's ancestry for five years already, and still, I promise, you've only just begun to scratch the surface of what you will be able to do."

Frustrated with her own lack of progress, Zelena queries, "If a decade from now would still be an early start for him, then how is Eliana already able to transport at will? She isn't that much older than him."

Hades nods. "Eliana transports because she relies, not on her godly power to do so, but on her power as a witch. It's much easier to master. She's also a girl, and generally speaking, females do seem to learn to manipulate their abilities more quickly than males."

"But…"

Hades cuts her off apologetically. "Darling, Theo is alone in the underworld. I need to go and get him before one of the power-hungry denizens there learns of his arrival and decides to use it to their advantage. We can sort all this out later, after we are certain he is safe."

Zelena nods and falls silent as she waits for him to vanish from sight only to re-appear a moment later with their son held safely in his arms. When that doesn't happen, she raises an eyebrow. "You are going now?"

Hades scowls in confusion. "I don't seem to be able to."

A short burst of humorless laughter escapes Zelena. "Well, of course you can. Just do… whatever it is you normally do."

"I am, or at least I'm trying to. It's not working. I can't go. Somehow, I've been barred."

"What the hell do you mean you've been barred?"

"I can't do it."

"What's wrong with your power?"

"Nothing. My ability to go is fine. I just can't step through. I don't seem to be able to leave!"

"Well, why the hell not?"

"I don't know!" Hades shouts as fear roars to life in his gut. He tries to relocate himself to a spot across the room and has no trouble doing it.

Zelena understands. "You can travel around here in Storybrooke, but you can't get into the underworld?

He nods gravely.

"Try to leave town or move through time."

He leaves them, shimmering out of sight.

While they wait for his return, Cora seizes the opportunity to ask a question. "What was he talking about a moment ago?"

"You heard him the same as I did. He can't travel to the underworld."

"Zelena, dear, that's not what I'm referring to. What was that about your father? Why should Hades mention his ancestry?"

Zelena sighs in exasperation. "Mother, now is not the time. We have much more important things to worry about just now. In case you …" she stops short when Hades returns and offers a worried shrug.

Zelena fires off questions in rapid succession. "Any problems? Where did you go? Did you try another realm?"

Hades begins to pace restlessly, like a caged beast. "No problems - and yes, I tried a couple of different realms." He reaches out for her, rapidly approaching panic. "Here, you go."

Zelena partially de-materializes but becomes translucent and then stalls briefly before fully returning to her former position. She shakes her head as her blue eyes fill with alarm. "Hades?"

"Somebody's up to something."

Zelena immediately rounds on the most likely suspect, or at least the one in closest proximity. She growls ominously, "Mother! Whatever you are up to, whatever you've done, reverse it now!"

Cora looks genuinely shocked. "Me!"

"Yes you!" Hades hisses violently as his head erupts in blue flames.

Cora shakes her head indefatigably. "Whatever's happening here, I am not responsible."

"Cora! If anything happens to our son…" Hades' customary cobalt blue flames suddenly go obsidian black. "I will gladly spend the next ten eternities torturing you."

The queen of hearts steps quickly away from him, holding her hands palm up in a defensive gesture. "I live in the underworld too, remember? I look after the place while you're up here playing dad."

Hades approaches her darkly. "Not anymore, you don't."

"If you will just think rationally for a moment Hades… I know who is down there. I know what is down there. And, you know me. Do you honestly think for one second that I would send my only grandson down there alone? That I would restrict your access to him and leave him unprotected. Furthermore, I do not have the power to restrict your travel, and you know it."

Zelena eyes her mother for a weighted moment. Then, grudgingly, she steps in between the two of them. Arms out, she touches both their shoulders and pushes them apart, putting a greater physical distance between the two of them. "Nobody hates to admit this more than I, but she's telling the truth. Listen to her Hades. You know she's right. You know what power means to her, and he's her connection to greater power than she's ever known. She wouldn't endanger him – not like this. Not even if she could."

Zelena waits for reason to once again take hold of her husband. When she is certain that he won't strangle her mother for the sheer pleasure of it, she steps back. "Only another deity could restrict our access to the underworld, Hades." She shakes her head, mentally grasping for any explanation. "Have you had a disagreement with your brother, that you've neglected to mention?"

Hades scowls repugnantly.

"Never mind. I'm sorry, darling. Don't answer that. Even if you had, Zeus would be even less likely than Mother to do this. He puts too high a premium on family for this. Maybe…"

Hades cuts her off. "There's no use trying to figure out who I've pissed off. I've had centuries to make enemies. There are too many to count. Right now, what we need to focus on is finding a way to get to Theo."

Zelena paces, lost in thought, her heels tapping out their staccato rhythm. After several seconds, she asks, "Can you call him to you?"

Hades shakes his head. "Not across realms. He'd have to be full deity to survive that, darling. As he's not, doing so might literally tear him apart."

Zelena cringes as if the words themselves cause her intolerable pain. "Strike that idea."

Cora clears her throat, signaling her intent to interrupt.

Husband and wife snap simultaneously, "Not now!"

Ignoring this, she says simply, "Send me."

Theo’s parents pace relentlessly, their heads bowed in concentration.

"Can you communicate with any of them?"

"None of them I'm willing to entrust with the well-being of our son."

Cora tries again. "Send me."

Zelena nods doggedly. "Okay, what about the family? Can you communicate with any of them?"

Hades turns his focus inward, his face going blank again. He's back in a flicker of time. "I can't reach anyone."

Zelena's eyes widen with barely controlled panic. "No one?"

Hades shakes his head. "Not a single omnipotent being. Hang on love."

She watches his consciousness flicker out, and back in again.

"The entire town is in a state of panic…"

"Hades, I don't give a damn about this bloody town. I want my son!"

His face suddenly pales to the color of chalk. "Regina is calling. She says Eliana is in trouble. She needs us! She needs us now!"

Zelena presses her fingertips against her temples as if she's fighting off a migraine. "OK, fine! We'll go now! What do we do about Theo?"

Cora growls, demanding to be heard. "Send me!"

Zelena's gaze swivels back to Cora in surprise, as if she'd forgotten her mother was there to begin with." She blinks twice and then snaps, "Don't be ridiculous! If he can't call for Theo without endangering him, what do you think sending you without an escort will do to you? It will kill you, Mother!"

Hades nods. "Have you forgotten the cover charge. The price of entry is death Cora."

Cora shrugs as if they have just declared that she will arrive at her destination with nothing more severe than a skinned knee "That's okay. I've been dead before. And the underworld is one of the very few places where you can be dead and still be cognizant."

Hades steps toward her again. "I may not be able to get there right now, but I do know what's going on down there. I can see every move my son makes. I will be watching you. If you're scheming… If you leave him alone for just one second… If he so much as whimpers…"

Cora interrupts. "Your daughter needs you. Get on with it already."

Hades reaches out.

Cora barely registers his hand touching her shoulder. In the next instant, she finds her untethered soul, once again, standing in the throne room in one of the underworld's most opulent chambers, while above ground in Storybrooke her corporeal body collapses to the floor.

"Quick, snatch the heart!" Hades orders. "before her body is magically returned to Regina's vault."

Zelena kneels and just manages to grasp the organ. Even as she pulls it free, Cora's body is already fading from view.

Hades watches as her fingers tighten around the darkened organ.

Stopping herself the last possible moment, she gives him a sudden inquiring look. "Wait… Is she there? Is she with Theo?"

Hades nods. "They are getting acquainted."

Zelena grins with wicked abandon and squeezes until there's nothing left but fine gray ash slipping through her fingers.

When she sighs indulgently, Hades is too smart to point out that the heart she crushed was not actually her mother's, or the fact that Regina beat her to that coveted goal. Instead, he simply asks, "Feel good."

She laughs. "Absolutely wicked. I have always wanted to do that."


	10. Chapter 10

Before Cora has time to blink, she finds herself standing in the center of Hades’ lavish throne room. 

Dead again. Back to the drawing board. There’s no point wasting time feeling sorry for herself. That’s of absolutely no use. 

For a brief moment, she watches her grandson seemingly unobserved. Clad in hand-tailored overalls with a small dragon depicted on the finely embroidered bib pocket, the dark-haired boy toddles around the room aimlessly for a few moments before deciding to climb into the seat of his father’s throne. It takes him more than one try to get both knees up onto the gold silk cushion, but he manages quickly enough. No sooner than he does, he releases the Velcro straps on his tiny green sneakers, struggles briefly to pull off his socks, and promptly sticks the toes of his left foot into his mouth. He slurps on them for a good 45 seconds before he realizes he’s being watched. At which point, he stops slurping, slowly lowers his foot, and stares at Cora as if she is some never-before-seen oddity. 

“That’s better, isn’t it? Big boys do not put their toes in their mouths.” When she smiles at him, he frowns. When she steps toward him, he starts to shimmer out.

As his body suddenly becomes transparent, Cora quietly commands, “Wait Theo. Don’t leave. Daddy sent me to play with you. I’m your grandmother.”

“Da?” Theo looks around the room as if searching.

“That’s right.” She steps closer. “He’s not here right now, but he’ll be back in a little while. He and Mother had to go help Eliana. Did you bring any toys with you?”

The nearer she gets, the harder Theo stares, until the moment when she actually reaches for him, at which point, he slaps at her hands and presses himself backward into the seat cushions as far as he can go.

“No touch Teo!”

Cora forces what she thinks is a bemused smile onto her face. “There’s no need to be scared. I wouldn’t harm you for all the magic in all the worlds. Come and see me.”

She tries again.

Again, Theo slaps at her hands. “No touch Teo!” and this time, bright teal-colored flames leap from the top of his head.

Cora plants her hands on her hips and sighs dryly. “That’s very amusing. Did your father teach you that?”

Theo doesn’t like her smile, and now that she’s stopped smiling, he likes her even less. “Mummy?” He looks around searching for Zelena.

Cora smirks. Ah, not mother… mummy. Well, okay, fine. 

“Mummy will be back in a little while. Until she does come back, I’m here.” She tries again, and this time Theo does vanish.

Wonderful! For a single moment, she’s almost worried until she remembers that she’s here because Hades couldn’t get in. Therefore, his son probably can’t get out… She sets off to find her wayward grandson.

* * *

Regina is scarcely less horrified or thunderstruck than her daughter. So, as she kneels on the floor of the porch, arms wrapped around her wailing child, her mind reels searching for, and seizing at any explanation no matter how far flung.

“Shush Norah. You have to be quiet. I need you to tell me…"

Her father interrupts. “Where did Robin go?”

Her mind buzzing with questions she cannot answer, she barely hears him.

“Regina?”

She does not answer.

Henry reaches for the crystal, only half of it exposed outside the bib pocket of his granddaughter’s overalls.

Regina sees without really seeing, until the last possible second when she rudely slaps her father’s hand and shrieks, “Have you lost your mind! You just saw what happened to him! Don’t touch it! I’m going to have to go get Robin, from wherever it is that he’s gone to. Don’t ask me where that is. I don’t have a clue. I would prefer not to have to go after both of y…”

She only stops shouting because her father is pointing at Norah, who is staring at her mother with wide startled tear-filled eyes that are twice their normal size. 

“You’re gonna go get Daddy?”

Regina snaps, “Well of course, I’m gonna go get your daddy! Don’t be ridiculous!”

“Regina, dear, stop shouting. We can both hear you.”

Although her next words are quieter, she continues talking, almost as if she hadn’t heard him. “… Just as soon as I figure out where the hell he’s gone.”

“Mama, you yelled at Papa!” Norah declares, still wide eyed.

“I yell at people all the time.”

Norah shakes her head emphatically. “Not Papa!”

Regina scowls. “Where have you been?”

“She speaks the truth. You haven’t yelled at me for nearly four decades. Not since before… Well…”

Regina shakes her head, trying to think. “I’ve gotta go find my husband.”

“Well, of course.”

Regina points to the crystal sticking out of Norah’s pocket. “I know you’re scared, honey. I’ll fix it. I’ll go find your daddy. You have to tell me what that thing is, and where you got it.”

Norah plucks the crystal from her pocket as Regina screeches again, “No don’t… Wait? You can touch it? Are you okay?”

Norah nods her head. 

“Does it hurt.”

“No. It’s not hot anymore. “I don’t know why I can touch it. Maybe because I have magic. Maybe because me and Eliana made it.”

Regina squints. “You made this?”

Norah nods, but shrugs at the same time. “Well, we didn’t really make it. We just put it back together again. It used to be broken.”

Regina raises an eyebrow. “How did you put it back together?”

Norah squeezes her eyes shut and doesn’t answer.

Regina sighs in exasperation. “Norah, it doesn’t matter what you two girls have been up to. At least, not right now. We’ll deal with that later. If you want your daddy back, I’ve got to know what you’ve been doing, and I’ve got to know right now! So, out with it!”

Norah wrinkles her nose. “We used m…magic - Eliana said it was a binding spell – plus duct tape, and one of Daddy’s metal clampy things that holds stuff together until the glue dries.”

Norah cringes waiting for her mother to explode. 

Regina breathes forcefully for several seconds before she whispers, “How many times have I told… Wait? Zelena has been teaching her binding spells? At her age?”

Norah nods hesitantly. “Only so she can fix her hair the way she likes.”

“Yes Norah. But Eliana is capable of independent thought! She’s using the spell for other things, and she’s way too young for that. You’ve set a forest fire! It’s storming. Half the town is disappearing. The other half is in shambles, and your daddy…”

Henry touches his daughter’s shoulder and shakes his head as fresh tears spill from Norah’s eyes.

Regina stops. The rest of her words stuck in her throat as Norah wails pitifully.

“I didn’t mean it to happen. Eliana lied to me.”

“What do you mean, baby.”

“She didn’t tell the truth.”

Regina chuckles softly. “I know what the word means Norah. What did she lie about?”

“She said that we was gonna bring the underworld to Storybrooke so her mom and dad could be here more often. She says they are almost never home, and when they are, all they do is play with Theo. I was only trying to help her, but she lied. She tried to put Theo in the underworld and make her mom and dad stay here. I didn’t mean for bad stuff to happen. I didn’t mean for Daddy to go away!”

Regina holds her sobbing daughter close and rocks her gently as she comes to her feet. “Okay. It’s gonna be okay, honey. I’ll fix it. I need you to go with Papa, and I need you to be a good girl. I’ve got some work to do. First, I’ve got to find your cousin. Then, get your brother. After that, I’ll go find your daddy.”

Taking his granddaughter into his arms, Henry asks the $64,000,000 question. “How are you going to do that, dear?”

When Norah’s face is buried in the curve of her grandfather’s neck, Regina mouths exuberantly, “I don’t have one damn clue!” for Norah’s benefit, she sighs, “I’ll think of something.”

Henry chuckles softly. “I’m sure you will. You always do.”

“Take her to Granny’s. Everyone is supposed to be meeting there.”

Henry looks out at the rain beyond the shelter of the porch’s roof.

“How am I supposed to do that without her getting pneumonia. It’s pouring down rain, and I don’t drive one of those fancy metal carriages.”

Regina quickly conjures a full set of rain gear for the two of them and they instantly find themselves dressed for the weather. Then, she magically calls for her father’s horse and riding tack.

He passes Norah back to her for a moment, steps off the porch, takes his mount and then reaches down to receive his granddaughter once again.

“Wait for me at Granny’s. There are fresh towels and dry clothes for both of you in the saddle bag, along with one of Norah’s jackets and your cell phone. Call Henry in Boston. Let him know what’s going on. If he doesn’t answer right away, he’s either in class or studying. He will call you back. Leave him a message if you have to. I’ll be there as soon as I can. " Regina trots back to the porch and returns with Robin's knapsack, his bow and his quiver. After securing the rest she hands over his quiver. "He's going to wish he had these. If I'm going after him, I may as well take them to him."

Henry nods in silent understanding.

"Norah, you be a good girl, and don’t you let anybody else touch that thing until I get there. What’s it supposed to be, anyway? Do you know what it used to be before it got broken?”

“Eliana said it was a crystal… Some kind of Olympic crystal.”

Regina steps back as though she’s suddenly been punched in the gut. “The Olympian crystal?”

Norah nods. “Yeah, Uh huh, that’s it.”

Henry watches all the color drain from his daughter’s face. Even as it does, he can almost hear the wheels start turning in her mind. It takes a long moment, but her color returns with a vengeance and her eyes go hard with determination.

“You’ve got a plan.” The old king declares with certainty.

His daughter shrugs. “Not exactly, no. But if all else fails, I’m going to murder Zeus... or, come to think of it, I might start there!”


	11. Chapter 11

Cora wanders room to room in her daughter’s and son in law’s private living quarters. Each time she thinks she hears the tell-tale patter of tiny running feet; she rushes to throw open the nearest door or peer behind the nearest set of draperies. No sooner than she spots her grandson, the adorable little urchin giggles and disappears again. Since there is no longer any source of magical power to be had or manipulated in the underworld, this means the boy has the upper hand, and she is rapidly losing her patience for his little game. There’s no doubt in her mind, that’s exactly what he thinks this is. A game. The worst part is, he’s winning. After nearly 20 minutes of chasing the little half breed, she throws open the door to a bedroom that couldn’t possibly belong to anyone other than her granddaughter. The room is decorated in pink and white striped wallpaper with golden accents. Shelves line every wall, and every shelf is full to bursting with any and all variety of frilly-little girl toys.

The room is more than large enough for its heavy Grecian style furniture, and she trots across the room to the closet door left standing barely open and flicks on the interior light to discover a positively gargantuan closet that would rival the one she kept in life. She cannot fathom how one six-year-old girl could possibly need this many party dresses, unless Zelena has her attending three formal balls a day, and the child never wears anything more than once. That’s odd. She cannot remember any balls ever being thrown in the underworld. She shoves the thought aside and continues pushing hangers aside looking for a small boy hidden somewhere between the endless yards of fabric. At last, she knows she is in the wrong place when she hears a young voice somewhere behind her whisper. 

She trots back to the closet door, listening hard.

“Elwia, no cry.”

A slightly older voice whispers back, “Go away Theo! I don’t want you!”

Crossing the room, Cora drops to her knees and lifts the dust ruffle to peer under her granddaughter’s canopy bed. She finds, not one grandchild but two of them. Eliana’s face is currently tear-stained and red and, despite his sister’s obvious displeasure over the fact, Theo is currently crouched beside her in their dark little hideaway, patting her on the head as if she were a lonely puppy in desperate need of cheering up.

Cora forces patience that she does not feel into her smile. “Well, what do we have here?”

Eliana finds herself too stunned in the presence of an unexpected stranger to speak, but her brother doesn’t.

Theo grimaces. “You go way now. Teo no like you! You make Elwia cry.”

Eliana groans and tries without success to duck her little brother’s head patting as Cora scolds, “I haven’t done any such thing, and it is very impolite to speak to your grandmother that way young man!”

Eliana squints in surprise.

Theo growls. “You go way. You not mine! I tell. I tell Papa Henry!”

Cora squints briefly in confusion as she tries to decipher this message. It’s utterly absurd! No one has rejected her this vehemently since… Since Regina was Theo’s age. 

When understanding dawns, Cora laughs drolly as Eliana makes a strident attempt to explain. “Theo, you twit, Mr. Henry is Norah’s grandfather, not ours!”

Theo scowls and then shakes his head wildly as if his sister’s words were of no consequence. He repeats. “I tell. I tell Papa Henry!” At which point, he sticks out his tongue, and yanks the upheld dust ruffle out of Cora’s hand and back down to its proper place, concealing the pair of them from view once again. 

Cora’s fraying patience finally snaps, and she raises her voice. “That man is not your grandfather, and you will come out from under this bed instantly!”

In reply, Theo shouts, “Yes is! At the same moment his sister shouts, “Hey! He can’t help it if he’s just a stupid baby! Don’t you yell at my little brother like that!”

* * *

As soon as her father’s horse is out of sight, Regina sighs in disgust. There is no point in acquiring her own raincoat. She’s already soaked to the skin. The only concession she makes to the weather is to magically swap her high heeled footwear for a pair of Robin’s muddy boots left lying on the porch to the right of the front door. They are several sizes too big for her, and more than a little heavy, as they are resistant to all manner of things, including snake bites, but it doesn’t matter. Regardless of the fact that they provide more than she currently needs, in this weather, anything is better than a pair of her stilettos. 

With that accomplished, she pulls the waterlogged bandanna that is knotted around her neck, back up around her mouth and nose, and transports out. Back in the forest, calling for Eliana at the top of her voice, straining hard to hear anything, and getting as near as she dares to the flames, she tries a simple flame freezing charm, and when it appears to work, she steps forward, only to jump back and reapply within a matter of mere seconds, when the freezing spell loses its effect.

She tries again and watches the unexpected phenomenon repeat itself. She stares at her hands, palm up, at a loss to understand why it isn’t working. She digs deeper, uses more power, and watches the flames freeze for a few seconds longer than they had before, and yet, they do not stay frozen anywhere near as long as she thinks they should. She bites her lower lip and thinks hard, making a decision she does not want to make. On the verge of attempting the same charm again, this time, while shadow casting, she jumps nearly out of her skin when a maddeningly calm voice just behind her left shoulder says, “That’s not going to work.”

Regina whirls around, takes a step back to keep from losing her balance, and snaps angrily, “Hades, Zelena!”

“That’s not going to work.” He repeats evenly. “Unless your goal is to get yourself killed… Roasted like a sacrificial lamb, actually.”

“Do you want to tell me what the hell will work, or do you want to waste your time standing around making bad jokes while we all die of smoke inhalation, because, you’re a little late to the party! I have news for you Hades. Your daughter is out there somewhere!”

“And you’re just going to walk through fire to find her? Freezing it for only 10 seconds at a time?”

Regina shouts. “If that’s what I have to do.”

Her brother-in-law shakes his head. “You will exhaust your power long before you make it through, and then you will die… An unimaginable death. Regina, that’s not ordinary fire. It’s divine fire, the breath of the gods. You cannot stop it.”

“Eliana, she’s…” Regina gestures wildly, aimlessly.

Zelena reaches for one of her sister’s hands. “She’s fine. She’s in the underworld. We’ve had word from Mother. The kids can’t get out. We can’t get in. I have no clue what’s going on. They’re not particularly happy at the moment, but they are safe.”

Something dark and hard flickers in and out of existence in Regina’s eyes. Fighting against the words screaming to be let out, she asks quickly, “You’re sure?”

Hades nods. “We’re sure.”

She nods. “Then, if I can’t stop this fire, what will?”

Hades simply snaps his fingers and just like that, the forest fire around them vanishes. It doesn’t simply extinguish itself. It vanishes completely. The only evidence it ever existed is in the smoke-filled air, and in the badly charred trees and foliage around them.

In a flash, it occurs to Regina that this is the quintessential reason why her niece and nephew are so spoiled. There is nothing they can do, there is nothing they can get into, that their father cannot get them out of. Rather than waste her time, of which there is precious little, voicing this thought, Regina lifts her face to the sky, getting her bearings as she declares, “You two better head to Granny’s. Everyone else is probably there by now.” Once again, she starts to transport out, purple smoke gathering at her feet.

Zelena grabs for her arm. “Where are you going?”

“First, I’m going to the Merry Men’s camp to find Roland. I will drop him at Granny’s shortly thereafter so that he can be with Daddy and Norah in case they have to jump ship and blow town. Then I’m going to find Robin and bring him back.”

“Regina, you’re not making any sense. Bring Robin back from where?”

“I don’t know. I have no clue. All I know is he’s missing.” Trying to hold back the roiling tide of her emotions, she bites down on her lower lip hard enough to draw blood, and she doesn’t even flinch.

Zelena wipes the trickle of blood away with the pad of her thumb. “I’ll come with you.”

Regina slaps her hand away. With acid in her words, she declares, “Actually, you should do yourself a favor, and stay as far away from me as you can get.” She disappears in a tumultuous puff of regal smoke before her stunned sister can utter a single contradictory word.

* * *

Three miles away, Regina re-emerges at a run, charging through her customary cloud of royal smoke and vapor in the large clearing that surrounds the newly built home of John Little. She finds the place surrounded by sweaty men with sooty faces, throwing meaningless bucket after meaningless bucket of water against the house’s wooden exterior that is blazing with flames that will not die. The only men who are not fighting the fire are busy trying to physically restrain the house’s owner who is easily twice as big as all of them. He screams, curses, sobs, and throws blind punches, gone completely out of his mind. Trying anything to break free, as the seven men surrounding him dig in their heels and pray their strength lasts long enough to save him from himself. One of them sees Regina arrive, does an unmistakable double-take, and then waves her over. 

“Percival, why is Little John fighting so hard to go inside? I know it’s new. They haven’t even found time for a housewarming party yet, but it’s just a house.”

“The stairway is blocked by fire. We can’t go up. They can’t come down. His wife and only boy are trapped on the second floor.”

Regina inhales deeply for all the good it does her. The air is churned with smoke. “Is there more than one way up?”

Percival shakes his head regrettably. “Uh…”

“What is it?”

“I really don’t wanna be the one to tell you this, Your Majesty…” He grunts with the effort of holding back his agonized friend, and just barely ducks a meaty fist. 

“What?” Regina demands in a much louder voice.

“Roland when up a few minutes ago to try and bring them down. We don’t know if he reached them, but he didn’t come back out.”

Without another word, Regina breaks into a dead run. With the sound of her pulse drumming in her ears, she starts toward the house. Thinks better of it. Reverses direction, grabs a soaking wet heavy woolen blanket off a nearby clothesline, and just for good measure, she drops the large blanket in the horse trough that the impromptu fire brigade is drawing water from. As she wraps the dripping blanket around her shoulders, Percival tracks her with his eyes, knowing without question what she’s about to do, and hating himself because he knows he cannot stop her.

As she passes by on her way to the front door the second time, she yells to the Merry Men fighting the fire. “Let the house burn. It’s already lost. You can’t fight it, it’s divine fire. Stay with John.”

Percival glances upward toward the sky that is filled with fat black clouds that are dumping a completely useless, yet unyielding tidal wave of rain on them. He shouts, calling out to Regina. “The roof is nearly fully engulfed. It’s gonna come down any minute!”

Regina waves, signaling her understanding, takes the deepest breath she possibly can, pulls the blanket up over her head like a cloak, and steps over the threshold, disappearing instantly in the thick black smoke that comes billowing out of the burning house.


	12. Chapter 12

Regina has only been in the new house on one prior occasion. As such, the minute she steps beyond the tile floor of the vestibule she has to pause, thinking hard, for what she knows are four very costly seconds, just to recall where the staircase is located. 

There was a hallway off to the right and a carpet runner down the middle of the hallway. 

She bumps face-first into the hard surface of a wall. Over-corrects, and bumps into the opposite wall. In the darkened, smoke-filled house, very little of what she sees is recognizable. She can barely see the fingers of her right hand two inches in front of her face as she feels her way around, blindly moving as quickly as possible and praying she doesn’t trip over fallen debris or anything that is out of place. If it weren’t for the stink of the fire, she’s absolutely certain she would still smell the faint lingering scents of freshly cut cedar, new plaster, and the new paint on the walls. Her feet finally locate the carpet runner in the hallway, and Even before she locates the newell post at the bottom of the stairs, she’s perspiring heavily from every pore beneath the soaking wet wool blanket that is wrapped around her body. Inside it, she wonders what it’s like to be boiled alive, and prays she’s not about to find out. Three steps up the stairs, and her legs feel as if they weigh 1000 pounds. She wonders if it’s 800° inside the house, but quickly decides that it doesn’t matter. She doesn’t need to know the temperature range of the average house fire. All she needs to do is get Roland out. Every single rising step takes insurmountable effort. Halfway up, and she tries to remember John’s wife’s name. When she can’t, she gives it up for lost, and screams Roland’s name over and over again as loudly as possible, coughing and hacking with each new effort. Another few steps, and she sees the fire. She cannot transport beyond it without knowing precisely where it stops and starts and she doesn’t have time to transport while slowly searching. 

It’s not a big house. It holds a lot of people, or at least, it was supposed to. John, his wife, their eight daughters and one son, but it’s only four bedrooms. To her way of thinking, they are packed in tighter than sardines. To their way of thinking, it is the biggest place they’ll never get to live. Every time she thinks of their son, who is two years older than Norah, she experiences the oddest sensation of Déjà vu, but she has no idea why. 

“Roland!”

She tries the flame-freezing charm again, doing it over and over and over again every five seconds, just to hold the flames at bay long enough for her to pass through, before they roar back to life, devouring the house around her.

The second-floor hallway branches off in two directions. One is completely impassable. Completely engulfed with flames that seem to literally snatch the oxygen from the air, and from her lungs.

“Roland!”

She silently promises. Just let me get him out of here alive and I swear I’ll never throw another fireball.

“Roland!”

The roar of the fire is deafening. Like some caged dark beast with a blackened heart, clawing to be let out.

She stands there staring at the flames around her and is surprised to find herself thinking about how easy it would be to curl up and go to sleep.

No! She shakes her head. She knows she will never make it through the dense flames to the left of the staircase. She can’t even remember what’s down that stretch of the hallway. She turns to the right. No flames, and the barely visible outline of two doorways.

What was that? Did she hear something, or is she only hallucinating?

“Roland!”

The stairway behind her collapses and crashes to the floor below. 

“Roland!”

She coughs horribly and almost misses one of the most beautiful sounds she’s ever heard.

“Regina?”

He’s alive. Fresh adrenaline surges through her.

‘Roland?” She screams, feeling as though she’s swallowed a handful of dull razor blades.

“We’re here! We’re in here!”

Her eyes feel like they’ve been scrubbed violently with sandpaper, but a single tear slips free and burns worse than anything she’s ever felt; its track down her face instantly blistering in the superheated air.

She pauses equidistant between the two doors, knowing she might only have time enough to open one.

“Where are you?”

She holds both hands half an inch away from one door, testing for heat behind it. A single instant before she grabs the doorknob, a vigorous pounding comes from behind the other.

“We’re in here!”

Shaking her head in relief, she turns to face the other door, tests again for heat on the other side, and coughs violently before she can demand, “Get back! Get as far away from the door as you can! I’m coming in!”

Glancing back over her shoulder, she digs deep, and throws all the power she can manage at the encroaching flames. Turning to face the door again, she blasts it to pieces, charges over the threshold, and magically reassembles the door the same instant that her last flame-freezing charm is rendered utterly useless, and the ravenous flames instantly feed on the burst of oxygen-rich air from inside the closed room.

The air here is noticeably cleaner and easier to breathe, but before this can even register, before she can release the sodden wet blanket around her shoulders, familiar arms are nearly crushing her rip cage as Roland flings himself at her. 

“Bugger! That was close! Another second, and… Well, we’d be incinerated, that’s what!”

Regina laughs as painful tears course down her face, and she kisses his filthy sooty face.

She glances across the room at Fanny and her boy.

Fannie. That’s her name. How on earth did she forget that? Probably short for Frances, but she’s not absolutely certain of that at the moment.

Keeping an arm around Roland, Regina crosses the room. “We don’t have long. That door’s not going to hold for more than a few seconds. I doubt it’ll make it a full 60.”

Roland nods. “I was just trying to convince them. We’re going to have to jump.”

Fannie offers logic. “It’s nearly a 40-foot drop. We’ll break bones.”

Ten-year-old Roland nods. “Between broken bones, or being burned alive, I’m gonna jump!”

Regina smiles at the wide-eyed, frightened, dark-haired, seven-year-old boy held tightly to his mother’s side. “Relax, I’m going to try very hard to get us down from here without anyone breaking bones.”

A few steps to her left, and Regina stops before a wide window framed with brand new curtains. “Fannie, I can get you and your son safely to the ground below, if you do as I say. You won’t enjoy the way we get there, but you will be safe.”

Regina coughs horribly and Roland’s eyes go wide.

She nods at John-Jacob. Hold on to him tightly. When I tell you to, you take my hand, and you don’t let go for anything, until you feel firm ground beneath your feet.”

Fannie nods, lifts her son into her arms and steps up close beside Regina, who places her hands beneath Roland’s arms and whispers, “Up you go!”

Roland shakes his head and instantly takes ½ step back. “Regina, no. I’m almost 11. I’m too heavy!”

“Not today, you’re not, sweet boy. Help me out.” She pulls him close again, and lifts, whispering, “Up!”

Roland pushes off the floor and wraps himself around her.

Using both hands, Regina tries to open the window, but courtesy of the extreme temperature in the room, its stuck.

Fannie groans. “We’ll have to break it open.”

Regina shakes her head and tugs at her hand as she moves a foot away from the window. “All you have to do is step back.”

“Hold on tight.” She says quietly to Roland. Her voice rasping and wheezing.

Using both hands, she hurls a blast of white energy at the window and it instantly explodes.

People outside run around the side of the house; their faces lifted up, their voices shouting. The roof overhead groans, the door behind them bulges in its frame. Smoke curls and licks its way into the room by way of the gap at the bottom of the door, like some obscene, ravenous animal ready to feed.

Her other arm tightly around Roland’s waist, Regina clamps her free hand down around Fannie’s. Tugging hard, she closes her eyes and takes a running leap. She doesn’t de-materialize for transport, until they are mid-air, and clear of the window. Even before they hit the ground stumbling and rolling, she hears the door in the room above give way and angry orange flames come roiling out of the window a mere second behind them, the instant before the roof loses its last shred of integrity and collapses. 

Regina comes to a stop with Roland on top of her. People are laughing, clapping, hooting, and someone is shouting, “They’re down. They’re bloody safe! Ye kin let John go now!”

Regina barely manages to sit upright before the big man is hurdling around the side of the house, sobbing wildly, and lifting his wife’s feet off the ground. Regina scarcely registers them kissing without regard for their audience, as her chest heaves, and she gulps cleaner air by the lungful. Struggling to her feet, she pulls Roland along with her and wheezes, her voice scarcely above a harsh whisper, “What the hell were you thinking? Roland! Where did you get the idea to run into a burning house? What? You think you’re invincible?”

Roland throws himself into her arms again. Laughing, he declares quietly, “I could ask you the same questions?”

Crying fresh tears, Regina kisses the top of his curly head and scolds weakly, “Don’t you ever do that again!”

Roland clings to her. “I won’t, if you won’t.”

Before she can answer, Little John takes her by the arm, spins her around, crushes her in his bear-like embrace and lifts her feet 6 inches off the ground, before he unexpectedly kisses her on the mouth. Taken completely by surprise, Regina futilely pushes against his shoulders and waits stiffly for his benign assault to end.

When it’s over, she says promptly, “You’re welcome… Now, put me down.”

The big man blushes like a schoolboy and says quietly, his voice gravelly with emotion, “Of course. Anything the lady wants.”

She looks around at the lot of them, many of them chuckling at Little John’s brazen display of gratitude. “I’m sorry but, there’s no time to waste on celebration. Robin’s in trouble. He’s missing. It’s very hard to explain why, as I don’t fully understand it myself. We need to all go to Granny’s right away. By now, the rest of the town should be there wait…. 

Regina’s eyes go wide as she clutches at her throat. She coughs violently, gasps, wheezes, tries to clear her throat, sways from left to right, and then collapses.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A very special thank-you to jsouatfan and Thompsra who help to make this story possible with their encouragement, support, and fresh ideas. Such things surely must infuse the nectar of the gods, for they feed the muses.
> 
> Also, to cut down on some of the incest-related nausea, I long ago drew a proverbial line in the sand between the Greek gods, and their Roman counterparts. Although, the two different cultures simply had different names for the same deities, when reading my stories, you should consider the Romans and the Greeks to be separate branches of the same family. Fun fact - (as it relates to information found in this chapter) The Roman goddess Minerva, and the Greek goddess Athena are quite literally the same female.

* * *

Unacceptable. This simply will not do! This is not to be born! 

Cora silently reels with the boldness of her grandchildren’s insolence. But, what to do? Physical punishment is likely to get her - well, she’s already dead. What else can Hades do to her? Cast her, for all eternity, into the unquenchable fires of Hell. That’s what! No! That won’t do either! 

Clearly, verbal scolding has no useful effect. She has no magic to use on them either, which is just as well. Doing so would likely earn her the same response from Hades as any amount of corporal punishment would. Any material thing she could possibly take away from them, they would simply use magic to reacquire it. They can blink, and go anywhere they choose within this world, with or without her permission.

Cora stands there, silently glaring down at the mattress and the pleated dust ruffle below it. She will not be outmatched by a couple of pint-sized, half-baked deities. She will not!

Aware that they are probably staring at the toes of her high-heeled boots, waiting for her to leave, she ruminates in silent displeasure. When, at last, a thought occurs to her, she can taste the sweetness of impending victory on her tongue.

She walks to the door. As it’s closing behind her, she turns back, saying over her shoulder, “Fine. You two can have it your way for now, but I will warn you just this once, the Blind Witch lives here in the Underworld now. When she was alive, she used to take naughty children such as yourselves, children who treated their elders with disrespect. She would steal them from their warm, safe, bedrooms. She took them away from their mummies and daddies. She stuffed them into her oven, where she would carefully baste them while she roasted them like lambs, and when they were at their most succulent, when they were roasted to perfection, she would take them out of the oven, place them on a sterling platter, carve them up nice and neat with a knife and fork… and then she ate them! So, you two will behave yourselves. You will be perfect little angels until your parents return. If not, I will invite the old crone over for tea this afternoon and conveniently forget to serve her so much as a crumb. I will make certain she leaves here nice and hungry. I bet nothing will taste more delectable to her than the children of a god."

With that, Cora closes the bedroom door and walks away, a malevolent smile lifting the corners of her mouth.

* * *

“Regina!” Roland tries to catch her as she falls, and only manages to slow her descent. Kneeling, he softly taps her cheek. “Regina? Oh no!” he shakes his head. This is not good. This is bad! He tries again. Regina? Come on, open your eyes, please. Sit up and yell at me some more. Please!” He lowers his right ear to her mouth and nose, listening carefully after shushing the adults around him who are starting to talk excitedly. Knowing it’s no use, Roland stands and looks around as several of the Merry Men gather around, kneeling themselves.

Still not realizing the seriousness of the event, Will Scarlett jokes, “Blimey, John, what’d you do to her? That never happens to any of the girls I kiss.”

Smart enough to realize this is no time for joking, Little John gives him a good shove. “Away with ye! Ye right pillock! Regina needs help, not yer barmy nonsense!”

Unnoticed by the others, Roland trots away quickly.

Percival offers, “I’ll go and fetch me horse and cart. We’ll take her into town – to see Weil at the hospital.”

Little John kneels, watches Regina’s already graying pallor, thinks of Robin. Thinks of how he grieved, how he damn near fell apart when Marian died. “Ye’ll not be takin’ Robin’s wife to see that graverobber, that butcher! Besides, weren’t none of ye blokes listenin’ to her? She said it was likely that the whole town is probably at Granny’s. It’s obvious somethun bad is happenin’ here. She said Robin was in trouble. We hav’ta wake her up so’s she can tell us what kinda trouble. We’ll find someone at Granny’s who can heal her; whatever’s gone bad with her. She needs magic. Not Weil’s science twaddle!”

The men suddenly hear hoof beats, and look around, searching for the source of the sound. Someone is approaching fast; riding hard. It takes less than ten seconds before Roland returns, sitting astride Albert Spencer’s prize Appaloosa stallion. “Give her to me, quickly!”

When they simply stare at him in shock, he adds, “There is no time to waste! She’s barely breathing. Pretty soon, she’s going to stop altogether, if she hasn’t already. I’ve already lost one mama! I won’t lose another.”

Little John stands and lifts Regina onto the horse with Will’s help. Roland lifts one of her arms over his left shoulder, takes the reins into his hands once again, and locks his arms around her, pressing Regina safely between the horse’s shoulders and his body.

Little John eyes him with uncertainty. “Are you certain you can manage, lad? If you drop h...”

He doesn’t get to finish. Before he can, Roland is galloping away with Regina basically sitting side-saddle in his arms; headed in the direction of town, oblivious to the rain, and moving like the wind. 

* * *

King Henry peers into the men’s room at Granny’s with his shivering, frightened granddaughter held tightly in his arms. Two of the dwarves are in there. One is zipping up at a urinal, the other is washing his hands, and they are talking to each other with obvious relief in their voices. “At least the town stopped disappearing!”

“Yeah, but why did it start disappearing in the first place?”

Sneezy steps up to the sinks as the other is pulling paper towels out of the receptacle and shrugging. “You got me!”

They both glance Henry’s way, expectant looks on their faces.

He points to his granddaughter. “We’ll wait.” He steps away from the door, puts his back to the wall, and rubs Norah’s back.

“Papa?” Her lower lip trembles. Whether from cold or sorrow, he’s not certain. Her tears have stopped, but she’s lost nearly all of the color in her cheeks, and the absence of light in her eyes, breaks the old man’s heart. “W-w-where did Daddy go?”

“I’m not sure, Bumblebee, but, your mama will find him. I know that for sure. When Regina decides to do something, she does it. You wait and see.”

“I’m cold.”

“I know. I’m going to fix that, just as soon as the men’s room is empty.”

They wait another minute, and then the dwarves come out.

Stepping in, Henry quickly checks the stall doors to make sure that no one else is inside. When it’s clear the place is theirs alone, he locks the door and steps into the largest stall; the one at the end of the row that is wheelchair friendly. In spite of the fact that the outer door is locked, he also slides the latch into place on the stall door. He lowers Norah’s feet to the floor, and releases the catch, also lowering the infant’s changing table. He drops his saddle bag to the floor and makes quick work of undressing his granddaughter completely, because the poor child is soaked all the way to the skin. Absolutely nothing she’s wearing is dry. He wraps her in a fluffy towel from home and dries her off as quickly as possible. Within minutes, she is re-dressed in jeans, a long-sleeved tee shirt that bears the image of baby ducks marching across the front of it (all of them wearing top hats atop their heads except for the third one who is proudly waving his top hat in salute), mismatched rainbow-colored socks, and tiny Converse sneakers. He zips her into a fleece jacket that matches her sneakers in color and is an absolutely eye-popping shade of orange. He smiles, joking, “There’s no way I will be losing sight of you in a crowd.”

Flatly, Norah answers. “Mama said I’m supposed to wear this jacket when I go walking in the woods with Daddy. She doesn’t want some hunter to think I’m a deer and shoot me.”

Henry kisses his granddaughter’s forehead. “You’ll be walking in the woods with Daddy again before you know it.” He finds a thoughtfully provided laundry bag beneath his own stack of clothing and starts to scoop her wet things up. The crystal falls out of its pocket and tumbles to the floor.

“Papa! Don’t touch it!” Norah screams with terror in her eyes.

Quietly, he sooths. “It’s okay. I’m right here. I won’t touch it sweetheart.”

Norah scrambles to pick up the crystal and tuck it away inside her jacket pocket.

When his dry clothes are laid out neatly on top of the changing table, he unlocks the stall door and gives her a gentle nudge. “Go stand right there against the wall, and do not move. Stay where I can see your feet. I need to change my clothes.” 

Norah does not budge. “I want to stay with you.”

“I need to change too. You can wait right there.” He points. “You’ll be able to see my feet too. I won’t go anywhere. I promise.”

Norah looks doubtful.

Henry raises an eyebrow. “I saw Miss Ruby out there. I bet if we asked her nicely, she’d make you a grilled cheese sandwich and keep an eye on you while I change, if you’d rather do it that way.”

Norah instantly shakes her head and backs out of the stall. “I only eat Daddy’s grilled cheese. I’m not hungry. And I’m staying with you, Papa. Her back hits the wall opposite the stall. “I’m staying right here. I’m not moving, and you better come out fast, or I’m crawling under. I’m watching your feet.”

Henry chuckles. “Okay, good girl. Fast as I can, I promise.

Minutes later, he opens the door and winks at her. “Better?” He asks as he shrugs into a leather jacket and steps out of the stall.

Norah gives him a speculative look. “You look pretty snazzy.”

Up goes Henry’s eyebrow again. “I look what?”

“You know, snazzy. It means that the ladies will like you.”

Henry chuckles doubtfully. “It does? Where did you learn this word?”

Norah shrugs as if it should be obvious. “From Henry.”

“Ahh, but of course.”

“It’s good. At least you don’t look soggy anymore.”

“Neither do you.” He picks her up and settles her on top of the counter. “Come on, let’s comb your hair.”

Norah sighs. “You can if you want to, but it won’t do any good, Papa. My hair is wet, it’s just going to be extra curly until it dries and, then it’s going to be a big fuzzy mess, unless Mama remembered to put my conditioner in your bag.” 

Henry retrieves his bag from the stall floor and rummages around inside it until he comes up with a small purple bottle with a hand pump in the bright yellow lid. Peering at it through half-moon spectacles, he learns that, according to information printed across the bottom third of the bottle; it’s a leave-in conditioner. Its contents ease frizz while providing both definition and bounce to curls. Henry squirts some of the goop inside the bottle into the palm of his left hand, then begins massaging it through his granddaughter’s hair after she informs him that he has the proper amount because, “Mama says, it’s not good to use too much.”

* * *

Five minutes later, they are seated under a large umbrella at one of Granny’s patio tables crowd-watching. As the last of the townspeople begin to arrive, so do a lot of other unexpected people. Some easily recognized, others not so easily.

As Deputy Mayor, or maybe just out of shock, Snow is the first person to speak. “Hercules, Meg, I thought you two were on holiday visiting Olympus?”

Hercules looks around in obvious confusion before catching sight of his old friend. “Snow… I don’t know what to say, I thought we were too!” He takes Megara’s hand in his and has just enough time to draw attention to a few relatives he hadn’t expected to see. “Aphrodite? Apollo? What’s going on? What are we doing here?”

Aphrodite, who has arrived out of thin air in a haze of soft pink light, holding a goblet to her lips; on the verge of taking a sip, looks just as stunned as the rest of them. She starts speaking in uncertainty and then finishes in a rush, “I’m quite… sure I have no idea.”

She turns in a slow circle, greeting some of those she recognizes. “Hello Selene, Aradia, Hades, Zelena, Poseidon. Pardon me but, and I mean this literally, what on earth?”

Before anyone can answer her question, an enormous, jagged bolt of lightning splits the sky, the ground rumbles violently, and she announces, “Here comes Daddy.”

Athena frowns. “I hope he has some answers. I was chariot racing at the Coliseum with Cousin Minerva, and I was winning, damn it!”

Out of all of their relatives, Zeus and his wife, Hera, arrive best dressed for the weather - in swimwear. Unlike their relatives, they appear perfectly calm, the very pictures of serenity. However, before the questions can fly, Roland gallops in, jumping the short hedge that surrounds Granny’s outdoor dining area with ease and reigning his mount to a stop squarely in the middle of the patio. His gaze immediately scans the crowd and zeros in on Emma who is still munching on the last bit of her final taco. “Miss Emma! Please help, Regina can’t breathe. Hurry! I think she’s dying. She’s getting colder every second!”

Henry rises to his feet, and lifts Norah, once again, into his arms as she squeals in panic.

Emma moves just as quickly as her heavily pregnant middle will allow, but Zeus steps up, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder as he eases passed her and places his other hand on Regina’s shoulder without even waiting for Roland to dismount. 

“Best let me take care of that. I know you are quite powerful Ms. Swan, but I do not believe even you can cure the effects of smoke inhalation brought on courtesy of divine fire.” He bows politely as he glances at her belly. “Not even under the best of circumstances, and at present, your abilities are quite taxed enough, aren’t they?”

Emma shrugs and places a hand in the small of her aching back. “I don’t even know what divine fire is. If you say you’ll be better at curing the damage done by it, I’m inclined to believe you… What, with you being ruler of the gods and all.”

“I appreciate your faith.” With his free hand, Zeus gently pats the horse’s hindquarters. “Easy there, big boy. Your job is done, and you have done it well. You shall be rewarded. How would you like a new home? One better than the one where you currently reside?”

The hand on Regina’s shoulder does not glow or shimmer in any ostentatious show of power. It simply rests there, patiently.

Roland squints. “Excuse me, sir. I hope this isn’t rude, but are you doing anything?”

Zeus chuckles softly. “I assure you, Roland. At present, I am doing many things; more than you can fathom.”

“Are you doing anything for my mama, because I can’t tell if anything’s happening here?”

“Fret not, brave one. Regina will be back with us shortly, and unless I miss my guess, the first thing she will probably do is yell at me. It’s just going to take a bit of patience. You got her here without a second to spare. Her condition was quite grave. I’m afraid your mother frequently forgets that she’s mortal.”

Zeus’ wife laughs at him. “Regina hasn’t done any such thing, darling.”

“Well then, she apparently sees herself as one of this world’s fictional superheroes - quite possibly, Wonder Woman.”

“She is no such thing, and she knows it. What Regina is, outshines all superheroes, be they real or imagined. She is among the most powerful of all heroines. She is a mom who loves her children without condition. She quite literally just walked through fire for one of them… and divine fire at that.”

Roland is only half listening. The lion’s share of his attention belongs to Regina, and suddenly he smiles, offering encouragement. “Whatever you are doing is slow, but it’s working. Her lips aren’t gray anymore. I can feel her breathing again.”

Zeus nods. “It shouldn’t be much longer now. She’s healing from the inside out. Her respiratory system was very nearly in full arrest. Smoke inhalation can be deadly with any fire.”

“I know. We learned about it in school.”

“Regina is very lucky you pay attention in class. I’m afraid she’s simply had too much of a bad thing. Running about in the woods, looking for my niece, and then your friend’s burning house, searching for you…”

“Right before she passed out, Regina said my dad was in trouble. She said that he is missing. Do you know where he is?”

“Yes, I’m afraid I do. I know why he’s there, and I know who is responsible.”

“Who?”

“A few people. Not the least of which is me.”

“You?”

“I’m sorry to say, yes, me.”

“Can you bring him back home?”

“I can, but not without risking a war - the casualties of which would be unimaginably catastrophic to the entire human race.”

Roland’s dark pupils immediately widen to double their normal size. “That sounds… just plain bad… but still, he’s my dad. You’re Zeus. Can’t you do anything to help him… Please?”

“I am doing something to help him.”

“What?”

“I’m reviving his wife.”

Regina suddenly gasps, pulling in great torrents of oxygen-rich air. In the next instant, her eyes open wide, she coughs, and clutches at her throat before she finally lifts her head from Roland's shoulder. For just one second, she smiles at Roland. The next, her gaze lands on Zeus and goes dark with murderous intent. In one deft movement, she slides from the saddle and hits him squarely in the middle of his bare chest with both of her fists, driving him backward as much with her words as her animosity. “Zeus, you, stupid son of a bitch! I want my husband back! I want him back now!”

“Yes Regina, I know.”

“What do you mean, you know?” She stalks him across Granny’s patio, the crowd parting around them until she backs him up against the patio table where Ashley Boyd and her husband Tom are seated.

“You’ve been screaming at me for the better part of the last hour, Regina. Don’t think I didn’t hear it just because you said nothing aloud.”

“You better invest in some divine ear plugs. I’m going to be screaming at you for the rest of eternity if I don’t get Robin back, you dimwitted moron!”

Most of the crowd gasps in astonishment.

Norah cannot decide whether to be happy that her mother is obviously okay, or cringe because Zeus is in BIG trouble.

Regina glances around, catches sight of her daughter and smiles. “Hi honey, don’t worry. I’m okay now. I’m going to get your daddy back. Do you still have the crystal?”

Norah nods and slowly removes the patched up Olympian crystal from her pocket.

Regina points aggressively. “Give it to Zeus.”

“Are you sure you want me to do that, Mama? What if he disappears like Daddy did?”

“He won’t, honey. It belongs to him. Let us hope that this time around, he decides to do something safer with it than break it in half and leave it in the care of his younger brother, the perpetually aroused, flame throwing, village idiot, who left it where it would be found by his daughter, the pint-sized divine version of Eva Braun, who not only hates her baby brother, but apparently, despite all my warnings to her mother, still has absolutely no understanding of the concepts of right and wrong!”


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Before reading this chapter, you should understand that I absolutely detested Adam and Eddy’s depictions of Hades and Zeus. To my way of thinking, they made both gods seem rather toothless. Some of you may not know this, but I absolutely refused to watch Once Upon a Time for the first 3 ½ years that it was aired, because I grew up a kid who was hopelessly in love with Walt Disney and all of his wonderful characters. I did not want to see anyone mess with my beloved images of those characters. 
> 
> The first episode I watched, was the episode where Robin and Regina were making out in the vault below the mausoleum. Of course, I instantly decided that Robin was worth further study. So, I backtracked. Halfway through the first episode, I was hooked. I was looking at Regina on-screen and screaming, to no one in particular, “Somebody needs to kill this bitch!” Then, she went and did what so few people do. She surprised me. She made the effort. She did the hard work. She changed. I became one of Regina’s biggest supporters.
> 
> I cannot put into words how disappointed I’ve become with Lana Parilla’s public behavior since the end of the series. Alas, she really is nothing like the character she so wonderfully portrayed. But I have digressed. This was not the soapbox I meant to get up on tonight. 
> 
> I enjoyed a great many of the changes that Horowitz and Kitsis made to Disney’s original stories. However, my personal enjoyment did not extend to the watered-down versions of Zeus and his brother Hades. 
> 
> Greek gods should never be tampered with. While reading, please picture them in a more traditional sense. I see them both as, physically fit, well-muscled, originally dark haired, and dark eyed, true Greeks. Yes, Hades has a slightly less impressive physique than his older brother. After all, he’s spent countless centuries below ground. His skin is pale, he’s more brooding… Probably from too many hours spent alone, or on empty meaningless flings before Zelena brightened his lonely world. I see Zeus as being deeply tan, very zen, and larger than life with a headful of long graying curls… He’s a lion, who doesn’t need to roar just to prove he’s king. He is considerably older than his baby brother. He also has possession of a delightful sense of humor, and more than just a noticeable touch of arrogance. So, do all his brothers, sisters, women, and children. After all, they are gods. They are entitled.

* * *

Cora settles into the luxurious cushions of a sofa upholstered in apricot colored Italian silk, relocates a pillow for comfort, crosses her legs at the ankles, and picks up the ancient leather-bound tome resting atop the table behind the sofa. Carefully, she opens the cover and turns to the title page. Whereupon, she sighs deeply. How predictable. Not terribly imaginative at all. The Iliad. A first edition. Pricey - and judging by the looks of it, in the original Greek. Her son-in-law certainly isn’t very adventurous, and decidedly more than a little vain; given his choice of reading material, but then, what man isn’t? Apparently, even deities are not spared this personal shortcoming.

“Are you really my grandmother?”

Cora jumps, startled to find Eliana is suddenly standing less than a foot away without ever having made a single sound to indicate her arrival. She closes the cover and returns the book to its place on the table. “Yes Eliana, I really am your grandmother. It’s not very nice of you to sneak up on people.”

“I didn’t mean to. I was just standing here. That’s all.”

“Apologies are better than excuses, dear. Even if only marginally so.”

“I don’t know what that means. Daddy says his parents don’t exist anymore.”

“That’s true. They don’t - at least not to the best of my knowledge. I’m your mother’s mother.”

Eliana squints. “Mummy said you don’t exist anymore either.”

Cora chuckles drolly. “Yes, Zelena would tell you that.”

Eliana raises an eyebrow in obvious skepticism. “I didn’t think I could talk to people who don’t exist anymore.”

“You can’t, darling.”

“I’m not stupid, like Theo. I know King Henry isn’t my grandfather.”

Cora offers the girl a slight smile. “Good for you.” She glances toward the open door. “Where is your brother?”

Eliana frowns. “Asleep. On my bed! He’s too heavy for me to carry all the way to his room. Who is?”

“Don’t frown. You’ll give yourself early wrinkles. Who is what, dear?”

“Who is my grandfather?”

“Oh, him. You needn’t waste your time thinking about him. He was no one of consequence. He turned out to be a rather big disappointment.”

“Is he dead, too?”

“I wouldn’t know, Eliana.”

“Is Norah dead?”

Cora lifts her chin sharply. She hadn’t expected that!

“Your cousin, Norah? Regina’s daughter?”

Eliana’s already pale complexion blanches, and she nods silently.

Cora lowers her heels to the floor and smooths her skirt over her knees. “Why would you ask such a question?”

“I didn’t mean it. It was an accident. We put the crystal back together. She was helping me. I told her I wanted Mummy and Daddy to stay in Storybrooke. The crystal exploded lightning and fire. The noise was so loud, and the trees were burning, and the ground was cracking open. It broke the wishing well. We ran, but I lost my shoe. Norah tried to get it for me. The well crumbled, and Norah fell in. She didn’t answer me when I called her, even though I screamed as loud as I could. I think I killed her.” Eliana wails, “She’s my friend!”

“Well then, you certainly have had a busy day. No wonder you were hiding under the bed. Come here and tell Grandmother more about this crystal of yours.”

* * *

“Hey!” both Hades and his wife roar, clearly offended by Regina’s heated insults.

Regina rolls her eyes and snaps drolly, “Right on cue.”

Zeus can’t help but chuckle.

Cobalt flames leap from the top of Hades’s head. “Damn it, Zeus! This is hardly funny!”

“Well… It is a little funny, brother. I mean, here you stand hurling flames from the top of your head, after having hidden something as invaluable as the Olympian crystal in a place where your six-year-old obviously found it. Regina is two for three, and as for her knowledge about your sexual proclivities, I’m going to be a gentleman, and do her the courtesy of simply assuming that sisters talk.”

Zelena groans.

People in the audience snicker quietly, trying to smother indiscreet laughter.

Impatient, feeling that the conversation has gotten entirely off track, Regina corrects its course with a low growl. “I want… My husband… Back!”

“Yes, Regina. I know. And I’m going to help you with that.”

Regina scowls, suspicious that it should’ve taken longer to get this far. “You are?”

“I am willing. I’m disconcerted to find myself here under such circumstances, but I hardly think any of this particular clusterfuck is any of your doing. Your daughter’s heart was in the right place. She only wanted to help her friend. Although, I do think it’s time to talk with her about how far she should be willing to trust any friend who is so blatantly eager to lead her astray, and for such self-serving reasons, but I do not think she should have to bear the loss of her father as punishment for her misguided actions.”

Regina’s face reddens with a fresh wave of anger. “Do yourself a favor Zeus! Worry about the actions of your own family members! You leave mine to me. Robin and I do not have any problems communicating our expectations regarding behavior to our children, but before we can do that, I’ve got to go get him from wherever the hell he is, before whatever bad thing that’s about to happen to him actually does happen!”

Zeus raises an eyebrow. “I’m curious. What makes you so certain your husband is in imminent danger?”

“Oh please! Look around at the damage that’s already been done! One of Robin’s oldest and dearest friends lost his home today because of this… What’d you call it? A clusterfuck? And I haven’t even mentioned the raging forest fire, or the fact that your relatives seem to have arrived here today under powers other than their own. Then there’s the fact that, you, your brother, a centuries old feud, a defunct crystal with untold power, my wicked sister and her undisciplined beast of a daughter, are all at the heart of this! Of course, Robin is in imminent danger! How could he not be?” Suddenly tired of looking at his exposed adam’s apple, or the bare expanse of well-muscled chest below it, Regina shakes her head. Unable to ignore these things any longer, and supremely annoyed with herself about it, she demands, “What the hell are you wearing, anyway? Do you always dress this way before showing up for conflict resolution?”

Zeus throws back his head and guffaws freely; his long curly salt and pepper mane of hair trembling with the force of his deep baritone laughter as it pushes the clouds around in the sky and finally dries up the rain. “Hardly. Hera and I were visiting the Italian Riviera when all hell broke loose here in Storybrooke. We thought it was best to come straight away. I’m not about to believe you’ve never seen the man in a bathing suit before Regina.”

Regina stares at his ridiculous yellow flip flops and the lime green towel slung casually around his neck, before clearing her throat and looking him in the eye. “That’s more than a bathing suit! People here on this planet call that a speedo.”

Zeus nods. “Yes. And I make it look good.”

“Unbelievable!” Regina squares her shoulders and stretches to her full height. She steps in close, invading his personal space, yet again, while lowering her voice dangerously. “For all I know, right this very minute, my husband could be getting torn limb from limb, and you’re standing here flattering yourself. I swear to…” Regina catches herself and auto-corrects without so much as blinking “… your face, I don’t care if I have to storm Olympus to get Robin back! If that’s what it takes, then Olympus had better prepare itself for a new queen.”

Zeus offers her a patient smile. “I have no doubt you would try. However, I’m afraid it would be a waste of your time; not to mention Robin’s.”

“Fine!” Regina seethes. “Then stop wasting it. Tell me where I have to go. What do I have to do? Who do I have to kill?”

Zeus clicks his tongue against the inside of his cheek and sucks on his teeth. “Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that. It’ll be a return trip for you. However, you won’t remember why until you get there. I’m afraid Robin isn’t quite that lucky. At present, he’s in an unfamiliar land that he has absolutely no desire to be in. He’s struggling to tell fact from fiction and one reality from another, while he revisits his own share of unwanted forgotten memories. You should try to keep a low profile while you’re there. I’m afraid that when you last visited, you unwittingly made an enemy of the wrong person. My son, Ares, visits from time to time and as such he has an on-again\off-again relationship with Queen Antiop. When he took a liking to you, I’m afraid she took it rather personally.”

Regina glares with incredulity. “Zeus, what are you babbling about? I’ve never met Ares, and I’ve never even heard of this Queen Antiop!”

“I assure you, you have - on both counts. It will start coming back to you once you’ve arrived.” He conjures, and then places a large oval-shaped pendant on a heavy leather strap around her neck.

Regina stares down at the heavy medallion encircled with amber and garnet stones. 

“You’ll need this to get in, and to get out. So, don’t lose it. Just call my name when you’re ready to return. Oh, and you might want to hurry.”

“Why? Why do I need to hurry?” Regina fixes him with an unyielding stare. “Come on, you’re not shy. Tell me what I don’t know.”

Zeus nods. “The amazons are making their annual pilgrimage to Valhalla, Regina. It’s early spring.”

Regina’s hands find their way to her hips. “And, just what the hell am I supposed to infer from that tiny little terabyte of information! Is Queen Antiop cranky over seasonal allergies?”

“It’s the only time of the year they allow themselves the company of men. It’s mating season.”

"You are saying that my husband is currently in the company of a gaggle of hyper-persuasive, sexually overcharged women with a penchant for battle, who like to make all their own rules?"

Zeus nods. "In a nutshell, yes."

Regina's dark eyes widen in alarm as she covers her mouth to keep from screaming words that her mother would’ve had her publicly whipped for daring to whisper. However, before she can decide on a better way to respond, the only Porsche in town pulls to a stop in the small parking lot outside Granny’s.

Albert Spencer steps out from behind the wheel, pointing aggressively toward Roland as he approaches. “Sheriff! I want that boy arrested immediately!”

Regina’s mind instantaneously jumps tracks as she steps up behind Roland and drapes her arms around his neck possessively. 

David, and his stunned daughter stare silently, an obviously bewildered look on both their faces. Just to be clear, David asks, “You are asking me to arrest a 10-year-old boy?”

Shaking her head, Snow immediately steps up beside Regina.

“No!” Spencer declares loudly. “I am not asking it; I am demanding it!”

“On what charges?” Regina demands forcefully.

Roland shrugs. “I stole his horse. I did it because my mom couldn’t breathe. I didn’t have time to argue with him. If he were nicer to animals, I would give the horse back now that I don’t need it anymore, but when I took the horse, he was using a whip… hitting the poor thing in the face because the horse wouldn’t take him in the direction he wanted to go… Straight into the burning forest. This horse was only trying to protect himself, and his rider. I am not giving him back, and I am not sorry. I will go to jail.”

Roland tries to step calmly in David’s direction, but Regina tightens her hold on the boy long enough to verify that the horse has indeed, been violently struck in the face multiple times. “You will do no such thing, Roland! If Mr. Spencer insists on having you arrested, then I will insist on having him arrested on charges of cruelty to an animal.”

Spencer glares at Regina and challenges belligerently, “The horse was fine, when it left my custody.”

Roland looks out at the crowd from the safety of Regina’s arms. “He’s lying. I’ve never mistreated an animal in my life. If I ever had, my dad would whip me. Besides, I only took his horse. Not his whip. He still has it, or at least he did, when I took his horse. Check his car.”

David steps into the parking lot and leans over, using his hands to block the glare of the returning sunlight as he presses his face against the driver’s side window of the high-end sports car.

Spencer steps in his direction, arguing, “You cannot search my vehicle without a warrant, and you know it, David.”

David smirks. “Point of clarification, counselor. I cannot enter your vehicle with the intent to execute a search without a warrant. I don’t need a warrant to see the whip lying there in the passenger’s seat in plain sight… and you know it. And, it looks like there’s blood on the whip too.”

Albert Spencer shrugs. “He still stole my horse. He admitted it, right here in front of the entire town’s population.”

David crosses his arms over his chest. “Al, I think you’re forgetting to put the spirit of the law before the letter of the law. I’ll arrest him, if you force me to, but you heard the mayor. You do that, and she’s going to have you arrested on charges of animal cruelty. And I will go all the way to Augusta to stand up in court and testify against you on that charge. The choice is yours. I think young Mr. Locksley here has himself an excellent case for mitigating circumstances. Care to press your luck?”

Regina locks eyes with Spencer and stares him down until he waves dismissively, gets in his virility-mobile, and speeds out of the parking lot, tires squealing.

David laughs. “I’m gonna mail him a citation for speeding.”

Regina rubs Roland’s shoulders affectionately, and whispers in his ear. “When I tell him what you’ve been up to, your dad is going to so proud of you!”

Roland turns worried eyes to her. “You’ll have to find him first.”

Regina shrugs. “That’s next on my list, but you and your little sister have both got to stay out of trouble while I’m gone. Is that clear?”

Both children nod adamantly, saying in unison, “Yes ma’am.”

Regina nods, hugs both her daughter and her father as she shoulders her husband's knapsack, and his shooting gear. She then turns to face each person, as she calls their names aloud. “Hades, do something to make yourself useful for a change. Put out the rest of the fires before half of the state of Maine is gone. Snow, you are officially in charge at the town hall until I return. Granny, I would greatly appreciate it if you would give the Littles, all 11 of them, the comfort of your boardinghouse until they can get back on their feet, or make other accommodations. Send the bill to the Lucky Feather. Robin and I will gladly pay it. Daddy, tell Henry, I will see him soon. Zeus, I have a feeling I already know the answer but, just in case I’m wrong, how do I get where I’m going?”

In reply, Zeus simply extends his arm offering her the Olympian crystal.

Drolly, Regina intones, “Yeah, that’s what I figured.”

She steps slowly toward him, stopping only when her sister calls her name.

“Regina, wait. I’m going with you.”

Quiet, dry laughter escapes Regina. “You really have no clue what’s happening here, do you Zelena?”

Zelena stops, surprised by the unmistakable chilly detachment in her sister’s voice.

“I do understand that you are not solely to blame for this. I am aware that other people have been involved, and that their actions have to be taken into account alongside yours. Perhaps even my own. I’ve been too busy. I wasn’t any more aware of what our daughters were up to than you were, and now my family is paying for that oversight. However, I’ve lost count of the number of times I have begged you to set some guidelines, and to enforce those guidelines, for your children. Storybrooke is in shambles. Norah could have drowned. Your daughter and all of her unchecked jealous insecurities has turned the lives of countless people upside down, and she’s only six. How much more damage is she going to do as she ages, as her power grows? No matter what happens from this point forward, even if I get Robin back completely unharmed … you and I are done. As far as I’m concerned, as of this moment, we are no longer sisters. I want nothing more to do with you, your husband, or your children. Norah will never again spend time with any of you unless, and until, you get your children under control.”

Giving Zelena no time to respond, Regina offers her daughter a bright smile. “Don’t be scared, honey. Daddy and I will be right back. With that, she reaches out, touches the crystal still held tightly in Zeus’s outstretched hand, and vanishes in a blinding flash of lightning. Destination, Valhalla.


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please be aware: Time moves differently in Valhalla. For every hour that expires in Storybrooke approximately 24 hours pass the warrior’s afterlife.

* * *

In the wake of Regina’s departure, most of the town’s people start asking questions, all of them talking at once. To say that they are anxious is a colossal understatement. Many of them voice their concerns excitedly. Some with confusion, some with tempered fear, a few of them are angry, some of them are downright loud. 

Quickly realizing that everyone’s talking, but nobody’s listening, Leroy Bantam, better known as Grumpy, pushes his chair back, rises to his feet, and waves his arms over his head. When no one seems to notice, he carefully tests the seat of his chair to make sure it will bear his full weight before stepping into the seat, placing two fingers in his mouth, and whistling at an absolutely eardrum-piercing volume.

The crowd falls silent at once. Several of them wincing and all of them looking around for the one who’s to blame for the unappreciated interruption.

He nods in self-satisfaction. “There, now that we can all hear each other…”

Snow steps to his side. As he comes down out of his chair, she places a hand on his shoulder in silent gratitude. “Leroy’s right. No one’s going to get any answers to their questions as long as we’re all trying to talk over each other.”

Mr. Smee reaches up and removes his knit cap, as if the simple act of speaking to a woman without having the courtesy to remove his hat first is an act of pure sacrilege. “What’s happening to the town this time? And, where did Mayor Mills go?”

“I’m not exactly certain where Regina went. All I know is that time seemed to be of the essence. She went to get Robin and bring him home. Knowing Regina, it’s safe to say she will return to her town and her family as quickly as possible, and I’m confident that Robin will be by her side when she does. As to what’s happening to the town, as acting Mayor in Regina’s absence, I will be happy to answer that question just as soon as I find the answer. I ask you all to please remain as calm as possible and be patient. This is not the first crisis Storybrooke has seen, or overcome, and I am certain it won’t be the last.

The town librarian’s father shouts. “The town was disappearing! Something like that can’t exactly happened by accident, can it?”

“I’m aware of that Mr. French. And it seems that the town has now stopped disappearing.”

“Qui, it would seem so. However, the portion of the town that ‘as disappeared, ‘as failed to reappear.”

Zeus clears his throat. “I believe we’re all aware of that, Mr. French. Shouting at the deputy mayor will not make the answers you desire suddenly materialize before you, but if you will allow me, I believe I can shed some light on the situation at hand.” He defers to Snow with a bow. “Mayor Nolan?”

Snow gestures invitingly. “Yes, please. If you can inform us, then I believe the floor is yours, so to speak.”

Maurice raises a doubtful eyebrow. “Who is this man in ‘is undergarments? And, who are all these new people come to town?”

Snow smiles with required patience and clears her throat as she gestures respectively. “Maurice, these are not merely people. These are some of the gods and goddesses of Mount Olympus, and the gentleman in swimwear is Zeus, ruler of Olympus, and he would like a moment of your cooperation. So, if you please…”

Once more, Zeus clears his throat. “You’re acting mayor is correct. I am Zeus. And, this is my family… Well, some of them. I have no doubt others will be arriving shortly, and I hope Storybrooke will forgive the intrusion. Perhaps it will help if I tell you that Mayor Mills has gone to Valhalla to retrieve her missing husband, who went there, I’m afraid, quite by accident and entirely against his will. As soon as she is ready to return, I will assist her in doing so.”

One of the Merry Men, Alan - who is generally quiet by nature -suddenly shoots out of his chair. “Valhalla? What? The resting place for warriors? Is Robin dead? And if he is… Well, I mean to say, he’s a hell of a thief, a fine mate, a skilled woodsman, and a right good barman, not to mention a proud husband and papa, but I wouldn’t exactly call him a warrior - even if he does shoot like one.”

The corners of Zeus’s eyes crinkle with his all but silent chuckle. “Rest assured friend, your mate has met no untimely end, and I daresay he won’t as long as his wife has anything to say about it.”

Little John drops an arm around his own wife’s shoulders as he announces, “Regina will have plenty to say about it, and if talkin’ don’t do the job up right, well then, she’ll be doin’ more than just talkin. Ye kin take that all the way to the bank, ye kin.”

Zeus nods. “I’m well aware.” He holds up the reconstructed Olympian crystal. Your friend’s departure occurred when he came into contact with this object without knowing what it was, or what would happen when he touched it. And I’m afraid it is this crystal that is also partly responsible for the current condition of your town. The rain has stopped. My brother has put an end to the forest fire that I’m sad to say claimed your home today, Mr. Little. Rest assured, you will be compensated. As a casualty of divine fire, your home cannot be resurrected, or returned to its former condition. Whatever costs you incurred, whatever the price you wish to be reimbursed for this travesty, you have only to ask it. No amount is too great. I give you my word, whatever you ask, my brother, Hades, will make full restitution.”

Taken completely by surprise, having expected no offer at all, much less one of such generous proportion, John squints in suspicion as he asks, “Why should your brother do this for my family?”

“My brother will do this. He will do this because it was his child, and he, by extension, who is responsible for this mess. I will return the missing portion of the town to its rightful…”

Several townspeople who are already an arm’s length away from he and his wife, take three more additional steps back, giving them an even wider berth when suddenly Hades’s head erupts in cobalt flames again. “I think you had better explain that inflammatory statement, Zeus!”

Zeus pauses, obviously choosing his next words. “The only thing inflammatory here is the lack of adequate parenting your children have received. Both would be delightful children were they not so wholly overindulged and so woefully undisciplined. I do trust you will recognize the Olympian crystal, brother, or at the very least, what now remains of it. Sadly, when last I saw it, I left it in your possession. A mistake I must apologize and ask forgiveness for. One I intend to correct immediately. You left this where you’re terribly unhappy and very insecure six-year-old daughter not only found it; but procured it for her own means.”

Hades laughs coldly. “Not only is that ridiculous; it simply is not possible. I kept both pieces of that crystal in a safe. One which my daughter doesn’t even know the location of, much less the combination for. Furthermore, she currently is too young. She lacks the skill to even attempt the restoration of the Olympian crystal.”

Zelena tugs at her husband’s sleeve, trying to silently claim his attention, or at the very least, warn him that he is metaphorically digging himself deeper into a very large hole. 

Zeus holds the crystal aloft, putting it on display once again. “I’m quite sure you can see, as can everyone else, the attempt at repair was rather crudely accomplished. Although, it should not have happened, and I intend to see that it never will again. I also must admit, I am quite impressed with young Miss Locksley’s common-sense approach.” He winks at Norah, who immediately hides her face in the curve of Henry’s shoulder. “Bound it up with duct tape, did you?”

Her grandfather nudges her, silently encouraging her to answer. 

Going slightly pink in the face, Norah shrugs and gives a small nod. “That’s what Daddy does when he wants to make stuff stick together. Only, I’m sorry. I didn’t know bad things would happen. I didn’t mean to make it rain. I didn’t mean to start the fire, or burn Little John’s house or the trees. I didn’t want to mess up the town, or the well. I want my Daddy back… Please!”

Several townspeople gasp in shock. Some in unmistakable outrage. “Well of course… Should’ve known… The child of…”

Zeus abruptly lifts both hands into the air reclaiming their attention immediately, but he speaks to Norah first. “I know that Norah. I know all that and more. Just like I know that you will never ever touch this crystal again, will you?”

Norah shakes her head vehemently. “No sir. I don’t wanna touch it no more. That thing is bad. It took my Daddy away.”

“Norah, it’s not really bad. It was just used to do something bad. There’s a difference. Plus, it was in the wrong hands. This crystal is home to much more power than a young witch like yourself is ready to handle. You made a good effort, a very impressive one, but it still isn’t properly repaired. It was much too dangerous a thing for you and your cousin to attempt.” Zeus faces the crowd once more. “You see, she only wanted to help her much-loved cousin, who’s deepest desire is a little more one-on-one time with Mom and Dad. The state of this town, Mr. Locksley’s departure from it, and my family’s subsequent arrival, are all thanks to an ill-used switching spell, that was strong enough to forcibly relocate gods. Young Norah could not have done this on her own. Only another deity can accomplish that. We have been moved here, and we are bound here by the spell that my niece cast. Likewise, her younger brother has been moved, rather conveniently, to the underworld and as you can clearly see, his parents are not there with him. I must admit, this is not entirely the fault of Hades and Zelena. It is partially my fault, because as Mayor Mills accused, I did leave this in my brother’s possession. At the time, he had been stripped of his power, and lacked the ability to repair it himself. It was broken.”

Hades starts again, “I tell you, Eliana did not take that crystal. It was locked in a safe. She did not know the combination.”

Zeus raises an eyebrow. “You’ve got blinders on when it comes to your daughter. Either she did know where the safe was. She did know the combination, or… your six-year-old daughter has become a highly accomplished master safe cracker without your knowledge. Which one is more likely? Because if you seriously intend to have us believe that the latter option is true, I think I know of a few forest-dwelling bandits who would like to offer her a job.”

The Merry Men guffaw loudly; several of them nodding their heads.

While his brother stands speechless at the utterly preposterous nature of Zeus’s message, the God of the sky waves his hand, and the town is put to rights by divine power. “You will compensate Mr. Little for the damage your daughter caused. You will give him anything he asks, without complaint. I do not care if he asks you to pick up a hammer and nails and physically help them rebuild. You will do it. You will do it because your children and their actions are ultimately your responsibility, until they are old enough to take responsibility for those actions themselves. You will reimburse anyone whose personal property was damaged. Your daughter will do something to help make amends, in whatever small way she can, as I’m sure young Norah will as well. And you, Zelena, and myself are going to have a private and very long conversation about what happens next, because I am not leaving until we do. I cannot leave. Your daughter cast this little spell. And while I am capable of reversing it, I am not going to. She is. She is going to learn to clean up her own messes, starting today. So, you two had better prepare yourselves for a long-term houseguest. In fact, you might want to prepare for several of them. I’ve seen how stubborn my niece can be.”

* * *

Robin does not know where he is. He had arrived, unceremoniously dumped in the middle of an unfamiliar and strangely beautiful wilderness paradise. With nothing more to do, he had set out on foot, looking for any sign of civilization. Some hours later, just before the setting of the sun, he found what he was looking for. Unfortunately, the same moment that he attempted to cautiously enter the open gates of an obvious primitive society, he was met by a dozen or more very tall, very strong, and very attractive women.

Robin had explained who he was and attempted polite conversation. They smiled, invited him to come with them, and then, promptly frog-marched him into an unmistakable palace garrison, and tossed him straightaway into a holding cell. The instant it was clear to him that he would receive no typical hospitable welcome, he clammed up, closing his mouth tighter than the jaws of a steel trap. This really was uncalled for. 

Some hours later, well into the night, a soft-spoken blonde woman came and moved him to his present location. She said her name was Myrnah. She had refused to explain where he was. She could not explain why he was there. She had explained that for the time being, he was quite literally stuck where he was, but that there were things he could do to make his stay a much more enjoyable one. 

He can’t recall just how he got here. One minute, he knows he had been worrying about his daughter, Norah. The next, he was simply here. He’d done nothing threatening. He hasn’t attempted to harm a single soul. This does not appear to matter. The first night here, he had tried to escape, purely for the purposes of testing his captors. This was not received well.

He’d had his arse handed to him by a bunch of women. They had captured him again, which he had expected. What he hadn’t anticipated is that it would hurt so bloody much. They hit with as much force as full-grown men, and he was most definitely outnumbered. They had subdued him, escorted him back to his appointed place, smiled at him as if he were a foolish little boy up past bedtime, and bid him a polite goodnight. Left alone to inspect his many new contusions, abrasions, and lacerations, Robin had opted for a new game plan. That was three days ago.

* * *

Without really registering the majestic view beyond the window of his current confinement, Robin perches on the windowsill. His vision turned inward as both, images and thoughts tumble through his mind haphazardly; careening and colliding, until it’s very hard to make sense of it all.

He sighs without realizing he’s done so and jumps, nearly half out of his skin, when an unexpected voice reaches out to him, letting him know that he is no longer alone. He immediately resents the intrusion but says nothing.

“Hello. I apologize for startling you. I thought certainly you heard me enter your suite.”

Keeping his expression neutral, Robin turns his head to face his latest unappreciated visitor.

She is no underling. He has seen, and instantly recognizes, her posture and bearing as that of royalty. Ah, the woman in charge. He knew she’d show up sooner or later. She is magnificent. Nothing less than a dark-haired, Amazonian Madonna; every bit as tall as he, and perfectly flawless. Robin could not care less. He will give her nothing. Determination made, he focuses on her words belatedly.

His suite? To be sure, the place is grand. Fine furnishings, fancy linens, goose down blankets, a feather bed, mirrors framed in gold, and his meals are provided on sparkling china that gleans and glistens as though imbued with flecks of gold. She can call it whatever she likes. It may be the inside of the classiest, and most swanky prison he has ever set foot in, but a cage is still a cage, no matter how gilded. Honestly, he prefers the ones with dirty floors and iron bars that are plainly visible. At least those are honest. In a cage like that, a man knows his place. He knows what to expect. With all its posh trappings, this place scares Robin, but he’ll be damned if he’s going to let her, or anyone else here, know that. So, appearing lazy and disinterested, he simply watches her.

She stares at the makeshift bedroll on the floor three steps to the left of the bed. “What’s the matter? Is the bed not to your liking? Too soft?”

Robin gives no answer. It does not matter how soft the bed is. Upon being locked inside this room, he instantly set about making a place for himself on the floor. Best not to get too comfortable. Best not to sleep two soundly. Don’t want to wake up and suddenly find that one is not alone. Especially not with this randy bunch of women. Obviously, there’s something in the water. Every single woman he has encountered for the last three days wishes to talk to him, touch him, flirt with him, and offer him things they should not. It’s not that they aren’t desirable, or that he has suddenly gone blind to this fact. He’s just got a few things to sort out in his mind, and he wishes like hell that they would all bugger off and leave him to it.

Half the time, he’s absolutely certain that Regina will arrive at any moment to collect him and take him home. The other half of the time, he’s not even certain that his wife is alive. A man should know that. Right? He should be able to say with absolute clarity, that yes, his wife is indeed alive or, no, she is not. Robin is not sure. 

The not knowing makes him want to hurl himself at the walls, but what good would that do? It would only add more bruises to his rapidly growing collection of them. His entire body is sore. And after his initial tussle with the guards, the one that taught him that it was best not to resist, or give them any cause to retaliate, he’s certain that a few of his ribs are at least fractured, if not outright broken. Shallow breaths require entirely too much effort. Deep ones aren’t even possible without pain. 

He once broke George Nottingham’s nose. Didn’t he? And Regina was there to see it. Wasn’t she? There was a battle at the Black Palace. Old George had been worse than rude. He’d been just plain vulgar, and no one was going to talk to his wife that way - not as long as Robin was around to do something about it. She’d been a little pleased - a trifle excited - looking down at Nottingham’s unconscious body sprawled on the floor of her throne room. That was one thing, and Robin didn’t mind a bit. But these women. These women are something different. Apparently genuinely aroused by all-out combat… Men fighting it out like animals, each one determined to prevail, to be the victor. And for what? The privilege of bedding one of these long-legged beauties? He misses his wife; and trying to decide just how badly he is supposed to do that is making his head and his heart hurt.

His visitor has the nerve to interrupt his private thoughts, damn it!

“Perhaps I should start by introducing myself. I am Antiop. Queen of the Amazon people.”

He wasn’t wrong. He knows a queen when he sees one, as he should, but he does not care who this one is. He says nothing.

She offers him a positively intoxicating smile. They all smile like that. Robin wishes they would stop it. They have no right. Women shouldn’t look at him like that. He’s married. Right? Of course, he is. Wherever Regina is, whatever she is… he is hers. He looks down at his left hand. A treasured possession is missing. They took his wedding ring just before they locked him in here. It is the only piece of jewelry he wears. Robin does not know how or when, he doesn’t even know where it is currently, but he will get it back.

“Can I provide you with anything. Maybe… A different pillow?” She tries, hoping for an avenue, a way in.

Robin keeps quiet.

“Maybe some pain medicine? We can make you quite a bit more comfortable; if you let us.”

Robin yawns.

She chuckles softly, musically even, before she sighs. “I can see Myrnah has not misinformed me. She’s the blonde who looks after you. She met you at intake. She tells me that you are the strong silent type.”

She approaches casually, and Robin lets her do it, up until the point that she rests a strong but delicate hand on his shoulder, her long slender fingers almost curling around the back of his neck intimately, as if she is on the verge of pulling him in closer.

Robin stands up. Leaving his perch on the windowsill, he gently brushes her hand, and the advance that comes with it away. He walks to and opens the door of his cell. He nods to the guards posted just beyond the threshold and gestures courteously, inviting her to leave without a single spoken word.

Taking her leave, Antiop steps out into the hallway. “At least move the chair over near the window. There’s no need to perch uncomfortably on the stone windowsill like that. Make yourself at home. You may as well. You might be here a while. You fight well.” She strides away.

Robin hates her. He closes the door, returns to the windowsill, and the thoughts buzzing irreconcilably around inside his brain. Norah is five… Or is she 16, about to be 17? Where is Roland? How old is Roland? What is this place? Where is Regina? Is she coming for him? Is she lost? Is she alive or dead? Robin doesn’t know. Somehow, in his muddled mind, she is both. Nothing makes sense.

* * *


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First, allow me to apologize for the slight delay in posting. We’ve had some unusual weather, and for most of the last week, I have been without power and exposed to some very unfriendly temperatures. It’s just not natural for it to be 13° in Southeast Texas. I once again have electricity, and running water, and five days from now, the grocery stores will, once again, be stocked with food. Things are slowly returning to normal for this time of year.
> 
> Second, after rereading what was originally intended to be chapter 15, I decided that I was not happy with it, or rather that I was unhappy with its placement. I feel like I rushed things a bit. As I am now trying to correct that, you may want to go back and reread chapter 15, as it is now entirely different. The story is still largely the same, I’m just to reordering a few things. Thank you for your patience.

* * *

The stands are not nearly half-full. Most of the seats are unoccupied. The unimpressively small audience is entirely comprised of people of the female persuasion, which is not to say that the women themselves are unimpressive… Just the scarce number of them in attendance. Whatever else an Amazonian woman is, she always leaves a lasting impression. 

However, at present, they are bored. More than one of them is dozing lightly in her seat. The skirmish taking place down in the center arena, so far, lacks vitality, and this is because neither of the men currently in the ring actually wants to fight. They have no quarrel with each other.

Anteros has seen it 5000 times if he has seen it once. His opponent shouldn’t be here. His opponent has no desire to be here. Whatever misfortune befell him, the only reason the man is standing in the ring is because he has no other choice. He is being forced to perform against his will. He is most likely doing it for food, shelter, water… The basic necessities of life. Because, unlike most of the men here, he is, indeed, alive.

Valhalla is supposed to be a resting place for warriors. Warriors who have met the end of their corporeal existence. But he is not dead. Dead men do not bruise. They do not sport four-day-old sickly green and purple contusions. They do not flinch when punched. They do not bleed when cut. This one does. 

But then, there are always a few live ones thrown into the mix. After all, it may be entertaining to watch departed warriors fight each other, but dead men, no matter how dear they may have been in life, cannot spread their seed. Even if they wished it, even if they were to try, the simple fact remains, dead men cannot impregnate the Amazons. Dead men cannot impregnate anyone. 

Anteros, for one, is of the opinion that the Amazonian race should not be allowed to thrive, and however this flesh-and-blood man came to be here, the point is, he is here now, and they will use him. Unless of course, he cannot win a fight. A man who cannot win fights is of no more use to them than a dead man is. Maybe he’s been here long enough to understand this. Maybe he understands that by having the temerity to step into the ring, even if he cannot win, he will be given food, water, shelter, and perhaps even a few creature comforts. Maybe he’s new. Maybe he hasn’t given up hope yet. Maybe he’s still staying alive, waiting for rescue… Waiting for some loved one to move heaven and earth just to bring him home.

He is not doing it out of boredom. Anteros has seen men do that too. Captive men sometimes will do anything just to pass the time. Even fight. They will allow themselves to be beaten bloody just to end the monotony. Not this one. He hasn’t taken a stance as the aggressor in the fight, but he knows how to move - how to evade. He’s quick, light on his feet. He knows how to sidestep and\or block, and, when he has no other choice, he knows how to take a blow.

He’s strong too - for a mortal. If this were a fair fight, if he were evenly matched, he could easily win. He’s holding back, though. He doesn’t want to win. Maybe he knows what the prize for winning is. That thought makes Anteros want to laugh. Anteros doesn’t want to win either. He too, holds back, because he knows it is not a fair fight.

His opponent knows it too. Because of the hoods they are each forced to wear in the ring, neither man can guess the other’s identity by appearance alone, but Anteros can see his eyes - his sharp blue eyes, and although they are clouded with pain, they are intelligent. This man is no half-wit. He knows he is outmatched. Still, he will not give in too easily, too early, and Anteros respects him for it. Physical pain sometimes distracts mortals from other pains – internal pains that are harder to bear. Perhaps that is what this one seeks, relief from the aches and pains of the heart. 

So, they spar, trading blows, dancing around the ring, roughing each other up just enough to make it look halfway believable. Each of them aware that at some point in the very immediate future, one of them will have to claim the victory that neither of them wants. 

When it can go on no longer, Anteros knocks his opponent to the ground with a hard blow, draws his sword, and places it’s razor-sharp point against the other man’s chest, directly above his heart. He waits a moment, offering a smidgen of ridiculous drama to the few females in the stands who are actually watching, then he sheathes his sword and extends his hand, bringing his opponent back to his feet. 

The man actually shakes his hand. Anteros bows. Then, they are forced, by guards, to step away from each other, moving in opposite directions.

His opponent is escorted back to his appointed chamber, wherever it may be. Anteros is escorted, as he expected to be, into a lavishly furnished and decorated bedroom where he is locked in and left waiting to see which breathtaking, domineering, Amazonian woman will arrive to offer him his undesired reward. 

He knows which one he’s hoping for. The same one he’s been hoping for, for the last 120 years. He also knows that the odds of her walking through the door today are probably less than zero. To tell the truth, he expects that it will probably take at least another 80 years before he’s even got a shot - one chance in hell of that happening. So, half an hour later, when the door opens and she finally does saunter into the room, gracing him with her presence, Anteros nearly trips over his own damn feet.

She is beautiful even before she smiles. He knew she would be. They are all beautiful. They are all captivating – every wretched one of them. He would hate her for it, if only he could, but the two women who raised him did not teach him to hate. Neither of them would allow it. So, out of respect for them, he does not hate her, but he almost wishes he did.

Her hands are on him. She hasn’t been in the room for ten bloody seconds, and already she’s touching him – releasing his scabbard with one hand, as she runs the fingers of her other hand through his chest hair.

Gently, he removes her hand from his chest and steps away. 

Another smile.

“You fought well… Though you could have made more of an effort.”

“There was no need for more effort. I had no quarrel with my opponent, no need to kill him.”

“But you admit you could have?”

Anteros shrugs. “I do not enjoy killing for sport. It is beneath me.”

“What will you kill for?”

“A great many things, my lady, but I will not kill for sport. Nor will I kill to make you, or your lovely ladies, wet between the thighs.”

Another smile, but this time, her eyes are as sharp as daggers, slicing into him. “That was rather vulgar.”

“I call it like I see it, Queen Antiop.”

“You know who I am.” She steps in close again, invading his personal space, trying to throw him off balance, so that she might gain the upper hand. 

He waits. Watching her. 

When she is a breath away from kissing him, their bottom lips brushing together softly, he whispers, “But of course, I know who you are. You are the woman who gave me life.”

This time, it is she who takes a step back.

He continues to whisper. “By all other rights, you are no one, and nothing to me.”

It takes a full two seconds for her to hitch her smile back into place. Then, she actually laughs, but it is a sound without conviction.

“That is not true. Amazonian women do not have sons. We only have daughters.”

“What you mean is, you do not keep sons. Only daughters. Sons are not worthy to live amongst you. You only grant males the pleasure of your company when it suits you. Male children unfortunate enough to be born to you usually die before they are a week old. If you care enough about them not to smother them in their cradles, they are either abandoned outright or, the lucky ones are sent to live with their fathers, as I was. The really lucky ones are taken in by kindhearted women who are willing to raise them, and in some cases, even love them. I must’ve been extraordinarily lucky. I was taken in by not one, but two such women, and although she does not yet know it, I am here in the service of one of those women.”

Dropping all pretense of warmth, the Amazonian queen asks, “What is it that you want of me?”

“I want, and I will have, Robin of Locksley set free. He shall not face another round in your arena. You shall release him to me without further harm or molestation.”

“Who?”

“Robin of Locksley.”

“And who, pray tell, is Robin of Locksley?”

“He is the man who just opposed me in the ring, not 35 minutes ago.”

“What is he to you?”

“He is nothing to me.”

“Then why do you care what I do with him?”

“He is my mother’s husband.”


	17. Chapter 17

Two mornings after her meeting with Anteros, Queen Antiop still feels the effect of his unexpected announcement. She is unsettled by the fact that he was able to surprise her so thoroughly; and displeased with herself for feeling that way at all. Trying to lift her own spirits, she stands equidistant from four different mirrors at once, looking at herself from every possible angle. Admiring a new buckskin dress with wide shoulder straps, a dropped waste, and a hip-high slit up either side of the skirt, she smiles at her own reflection as she removes the golden combs and pins from her dark hair to send it cascading down her back. 

When a quiet tap is heard at the door to her private quarters, her eyes flit to the door briefly courtesy of a mirror. “You may enter.”

A young ash blonde Amazonian woman steps quietly into the room, closing the door behind herself. “You asked to see me, my queen.” She clasps her hands behind her back.

“Yes, are you well today Myrnah?”

“I am. Thank you for asking.”

“And how are our visitors today?”

“I’d say our returning guests are in good spirits.”

“Any new arrivals?”

“A few.”

“Any deities or half-deities arrive today?”

“None so far. If you are expecting… “

“Did I say I was expecting anyone in particular?”

“No ma’am.”

“How are the rest of our friends?”

“I’d say they are as eager as ever.”

The queen sighs. “What of our unexpected visitor?”

Myrnah laughs softly. “I’m afraid there is nothing new to report. He is much the same as when he arrived. Other than his request yesterday for more protein with his meals, he has not spoken.”

“Really? Nothing yet? Not one word in six days?”

“Not so much as a whisper.”

“Six days, and not a single request for his release, a warmer blanket, more water, bandages, pain relief… Nothing?”

Myrnah shakes her head. “If I hadn’t heard him ask for a bit more meat, I might seriously think him mute.”

Antiop sighs. “Cut him loose.”

Myrnah’s pale green eyes widen dramatically. “Ma’am… Perhaps I did not hear correctly.”

“No, you heard me. Set him free.”

Myrnah’s chin raises a fraction of an inch, as if she’s going to speak. Then, obviously thinking better of it, she sighs. “As you wish.”

Antiop studies her. “You like him?”

Myrnah’s shrugs, easing into it. “I suppose so. Yes. I like him. He fascinates me.”

“Good heavens. Why? He’s just a man. They are all the same.”

“Respectfully… I disagree. And for what it’s worth, I don’t think you believe that any more than I do, my queen. I think most of them are very much alike. But every once in a while, every few hundred years or so, I come across one who stands out… for whatever reason. As I believe you have as well.”

“And what is it about this one that stands out, for you?

“He’s polite.”

Polite? I find him unsociable, taciturn even. The man refuses to speak. To you, or anyone else. He’s not interested in improving his time here. With the exception of perhaps having a slightly fuller belly. He fought with the guards who brought him in, up until the point that he figured out he was outmatched, then he stopped resisting. He fights well enough, but he won’t strike first. He’s capable of much more than he exhibits, I’m absolutely certain of that. He’s made no advances toward any of the girls, including yourself, he has accepted none of the offers made to him; whether for company, or anything else. Meanwhile, he occupies a suite that must be cleaned and maintained. He eats our food, and he offers very little in return.”

“His sleep is troubled. Something weighs heavily on his mind, although he refuses to speak of it, whatever it is. It has been a long while since I have seen a man who wasn’t too full of his own arrogance, too convinced of his own glory, to allow his sleep to be disturbed. Most of them sleep like great bears. Totally submersed, troubled by nothing, and snoring loud enough to wake Lazarus. And, he has not asked for very much either. Far less than any of the other men here. He’s quiet. He doesn’t make demands or beg and plead. He hasn’t caused any trouble, or unnecessarily made work for any of us. Most men take what we offer without a second thought, as though we were theirs by right.”

“Perhaps he is not interested in women.”

Myrnah chuckles. “Yes, he is. But, for whatever reason, he chooses not to act on his interests.”

“If that is true, then we can get nothing from him, that makes him a waste of resources. He’s costing us more than he’s offering.”

Myrnah tries one last time. “You know how briefly others survive here if left to themselves. They either try to revolt, and get killed in the attempt, or they die of hunger, or exposure.”

“Yes, I do know that. Set him free. We need not be concerned about his welfare, or anything else. He is no threat to us. We shall watch him, until there is no need to do so.”

Downcast, Myrnah sighs and steps toward the door.

Watching her go, the queen waits until the door is nearly closed behind her before offering, “I’m sorry, Myrnah.”

Myrnah does not respond.

* * *

Quicker than a hiccup, faster than the blink of an eye, Regina finds herself standing in the middle of an open, lush green pasture. 

For a moment, everything around her, and everything within her, is hazy and out of focus; like waking from a deep sleep only to realize that in her dreams, she visits a world unattainable to her in waking hours. Yet, as soon as the fog of sleep clears, she both forgets, and inexplicably misses that world, but does not know why.

In the next instant, the world she just left slides slightly out of focus, is set off to one side, and trades places with this one. However, like before, her memories of Storybrooke, and life before it, do not fade as her memories of this place did when she left it. Suddenly, she is overwhelmed by, and helpless to stop the onslaught of emotion that slams into her with the impact of a speeding locomotive, causing her to drop Robin’s gear and send it tumbling to the ground at her feet, as forgotten memories rush home, crying out for her and pulling her in two separate directions as she recalls the two most impossible choices she has ever been forced to make. Two choices that make the constant struggle between good and evil pale by comparison. The first she made nearly 407 years ago, according to time here in Valhalla, a full two years after she first arrived here. The second one she made just over five years ago, according to Storybrooke’s clock, when she chose to relinquish all memory of this place for the mere possibility of a chance to return home to Robin and their children. Each time the choice was as unbearable as it was miraculous and precious. With a twilight sky overhead, Regina sinks to her knees. For a brief time, she surrenders to the pain of each of those soul-shaking choices. Then, after the passing of those few moments, she picks herself up and, taking a deep breath, she wipes the tears from her face, and sets her mind on the task at hand. 

Zeus did tell her to keep a low profile. In the interest of doing just that, she snaps her fingers, instantly changing out of wet dirty clothes that smell of soot and divine fire, and into provocatively cut animal skins. Another quick flick of her fingers, and her face is scrubbed clean, and nearly devoid of any trace of makeup, while her hair is long and divided into multiple plaits. Looking down at a vest that shows off the pendant Zeus gave her, along with ample cleavage, and several inches of bare midriff, she smirks even before she notices the knee-high boots, and short skirt that accompany it. Only in Valhalla could she wear such an outfit, and still blend in with the crowd. 

Looking around, she gets her bearings, chooses east from west, and north from south before shouldering Robin’s knapsack and gear once again. Heading northeast, she doesn’t run, but there is definite purpose in her stride as she vows beneath her breath, “So help me Antiop, if Robin has so much as a hangnail…”


	18. Chapter 18

* * *

The reserved knock at his door tells Robin who will enter even before the door is open. He reaches for his boots and begins slipping his feet into them as she steps into the room. 

For a moment, she stands there simply looking at him. The blonde one. Her eyes are red-rimmed and swollen. She isn’t now, but at some point in the last half hour, she wept heavily. 

Probably not a good sign. Robin sighs and waits.

She introduced herself when they first met, but Robin wasn’t really paying attention then. What did Antiop call her? Mariah? No. Myrnah.

“You have to come with me now.” She speaks as she always has, quietly, barely above a whisper.

For a moment, Robin is tempted to shake his head, tempted to plant his feet, and refuse to budge. But it will do no good. If he does, the guards just on the other side of the door will be on him in a flash. He is tired of being pummeled. Besides, she doesn’t want that. Robin can see it in the way she glances fleetingly over her shoulder before turning back to him with wide frightened eyes. So, he looks around the room for ½ a second. That’s all he needs to be reminded that nothing here belongs to him. He ties the laces of his boots, rises from the floor, and follows her out the door. 

She leads him through corridors filled with closed doors. Many of them have two female guards posted, one on either side of the door, just as his room had. Twice he happens to catch sight of hastily dressed women stepping over thresholds and slipping out of sight as quickly as possible. He wonders how many rooms this place has. He wonders how many men are here. Just exactly how many women are here? How many men arrived willingly, and how many, like himself, are held captive? If Myrnah is aware of his thoughts, she gives no indication. She keeps her eyes forward, refusing to look left or right, unless absolutely necessary. Robin wonders if it’s his imagination, or if she’s as disgusted by the place as he is. He wonders what’s inside the bundle bound up with twine that she clutches to her chest with both arms.

One last hallway, one last door and he is outside. It is twilight, and he is outside. He’d smile except he can’t figure out why no one is following them, not one of the guards is complaining, or giving chase. 

For more than ten minutes, they walk in silence with her leading the way. They walk past the garrison with its holding cells. She leads him beyond the gates. Outside them, they are still in view of the guards, but she has stepped far enough away to have a very modest amount of privacy. Without a word, she hands over the bundle.

Robin raises an eyebrow.

Myrnah whispers. “Your clothes. The ones you were wearing when you first arrived. They were very wet and dirty. They are clean now.”

Robin inspects the bundle long enough to realize that his clothing is wrapped up inside a blanket made of heavy animal hide.

“It’s one of mine. I’m not supposed to give it to you. It gets very cold here at night.”

Robin blinks. For a moment, he simply stands there afraid to move; afraid he’s dreaming, and that if he moves, he will wake and find himself back in his room, behind the locked door, lying on top of his makeshift palette on the cold hard stone floor. 

Myrnah tilts her head to one side, offering him a visual nudge. “Go on, go. Now, before she changes her mind.”

Ah, the penny drops. Myrnah is not sneaking him out. He’s being turned out by Antiop. Hit the bricks, you ruddy pillock! You have been deemed unworthy. 

Robin turns his eyes to the horizon. Unknown wilderness, with nothing more than a change of clothes and a blanket; or gilded cage. Myrnah thinks his odds of survival out here alone are slim. That’s why she’s giving him the blanket.

He pats his right side where his scabbard should be. “My knife?

Myrnah shrugs and shakes her head. “I can’t.”

She looks as if she might be very near to tears again.

“It’s okay, don’t worry about it.” Robin takes ½ step back as he runs his thumb along the underside of the third finger on his left hand. “My ring?”

“I’m sorry. Whoever gave it to you, she’s blessed.”

Robin sucks on his teeth, clicking his tongue against the inside of his cheek. “I’m the one who was blessed.”

Myrnah’s pale green eyes do widen slightly, but she says nothing.

Liking his odds better than she does, Robin kisses her cheek and walks away without a backward glance.

* * *

Regina’s father moves the phone away from his ear when his eldest grandson shouts, “Norah did what?” and then, after a brief silence, follows it up with, “Oh god! Poor kid. Tell her everything will be fine. Mom will find Robin, and she will bring him home. Tell her, I’m on my way.”

Henry Sr. shakes his head. “Don’t you have a midterm scheduled for tomorrow at 2:00 PM? That’s what the calendar on the refrigerator says.” He can hear his grandson through the phone line, snapping a book shut.

“Grandpa, who cares about midterms! Mom’s off to Valhalla… And I missed it!”

“That’s right, she’s already gone. There’s nothing you can do from this end but sit and worry. You don’t need me to tell you that she wouldn’t want you messing up your grades. All she wanted me to do was call you and let you know what is happening. She said to tell you that she loves you, and she will see you soon.”

Twenty-year-old Henry rolls his eyes. “Grandpa, you don’t have to tell me those things. I know that Mom loves me. Just like I know she’s going to go to Valhalla, kick Amazon ass, bring Robin home, and sometime soon, probably next weekend, we’ll all be having burgers in the backyard. I’m coming home. My baby sister needs me to cheer her up right now more than Professor Colson needs me to take her stupid Ethics exam. How’s Roland doing?”

“He’s holding up better than Norah, but he’s worried.”

“Is he having nightmares yet?”

“He hasn’t been to sleep yet.”

“Well, get ready. You know what he’s like. Mom and Robin together, they are his touchstone. When they both go off together, or at the same time, in come the nightmares. Slip the kid some Xanax in his cocoa before bed tonight.”

“Henry, I am not drugging your little brother.”

“Well then, you better brew a strong pot of coffee for the two of us. We’re in for a long night. I’ll be there in a few hours.”

“I still think you should consider staying where you are.”

Henry chuckles. “I love you too, Grandpa. I’ll be there in a few hours.”

“I’ll leave the porch light on. No speeding. Drive safe.” Before the old king is through speaking, he is listening to a dial tone.

* * *

“No!” Zelena shouts. “Over my dead body. When hell freezes over! You are not taking my kids!”

Zeus sighs and remains calm. “No one said anything about taking your kids. I’m talking about enrolling them in a class. It’s a program that teaches young deities how to manage themselves and the powers that they’ve been given.”

“Yeah, on Olympus! Six days a week! We can do it ourselves!” Hades roars.

Zeus raises an eyebrow. “Really? Then why haven’t you?”

“We’re doing the best we can.”

Zeus laughs at his brother. “That’s not even close to being true. You cannot do it all by yourselves. Hades, you’re off in the underworld half the time. That means most of it falls on her shoulders.” Zeus points to his sister-in-law. 

Zelena paces the floor of her elegant front parlor and hisses furiously, “I’ll have you know that my shoulders are just fine, thank you very much!”

“Maybe so, but this town is not, and your daughter is largely responsible for that fact. How can you possibly be expected to help two small unhappy child deities learn to cope with their own powers when you haven't even learned to cope with yours?”

Zelena glares. “I can cope with my power just fine, and if you insinuate otherwise one more time…” 

“Can you physically keep up with your daughter when she vanishes from sight because she doesn’t get her way. Can you heal yourself when your son burns you because he doesn’t know any better? Can you do that without running to your sister to get the process started… And if not, who are you going to run to now? Now that Regina’s had enough? You found out about your godly powers five years ago. At the very least, you should be able to heal yourself when your son burns you. You saw the damage from the forest fire, you saw all the busted windows in town. You saw the collapsed well. Yet, your children are still in the underworld, alone with your mother. You saw the frightened looks on the faces of the townspeople.”

“I don’t give a damn about those people.”

Zeus leaves the sofa, rising to his feet. “That’s the root of your problem, sister. You don’t give a damn about anything that goes on, or anyone that lives outside of this lovely little Grecian villa, do you? Well, you better start. Frightened people can be dangerous. And right now, what’s frightening most of your neighbors, is your children and your deplorable lack of control over them. Can’t you understand the trouble Eliana and Theo are in? Can’t you understand the danger you’re putting them in? I’m not talking about just today. We both know this is not the first time Eliana has tried to rid herself of her baby brother. You’ve got to find a way to stop her from feeling like that’s necessary, and even if you can’t, you’ve got to find a way to make her understand that resorting to these lengths is unacceptable, and Hades has got to find a way to make your son understand that playing with fire is not fun… Not when people get hurt.”

“None of that is any of your damn business! They are our children!” Hades hurls a massive fireball across the room, instantly setting the draperies ablaze with blue flames.

In response, Zelena simply waves a hand. Extinguishing the fire and restoring the draperies.

“There!” Zeus points. “You see? Right there! One of you does something you shouldn’t. The other one immediately eliminates the problem. This is why your children don’t understand that actions have consequences. They’ve got all that power running around in their little bodies, and you are doing nothing to help them understand it or harness it. I am enrolling the two of them in class. You can either choose to bring them up yourselves, or I will escort them. I expect to see them bright and early Monday morning at the start of our next beginner's class. Lessons run for twelve weeks. The class is being taught by Athena, Apollo, and Artemis. Between the three of them, they handle anything that our kids throw at them. That gives you six days to figure out how to remain here while getting your children out of the underworld and getting the rest of us back home. Six days. If you don’t want me meddling in your children’s lives any more than I already am, figure it out! Come Sunday morning, if you haven’t accomplished any of this, I’m taking over!”

* * *

“Damn you, woman!” Anteros shouts while glaring down at Antiop, who despite her atypical height, is still five inches shorter than him.

“You will not speak in that manner in my presence!”

“I will speak however I like. I owe you nothing. I made myself quite clear!”

“Yes, you did! You wanted him released. He is released. I do not see the problem.”

“I wanted him released to me… And you knew that!”

“Oh, quit quibbling over details. He is free to do as he wishes… for however long he survives.”

Anteros stands in the middle of her spacious sitting room; feet apart, clenched fists resting against his hips, dark eyebrows bristling, fire in his gray eyes, with his massive chest heaving with each and every angry breath. His mind reels, searching for a stop gap to the disaster he sees looming just beyond his reach. 

After several seconds of excruciating silence, he whispers ominously, “You are a disgrace to womankind. You disgust me! What Father sees in you; I will never understand.”

Antiop gasps, but before she can retaliate, he turns on his heel, stomps from the room, and breaks into a dead run. There is no time to waste. If he hurries, he just might make it.


	19. Chapter 19

* * *

When Eliana is finished with her story, Cora exhales noisily. “You girls are keeping your parents busy. Where is the crystal now?”

Eliana shrugs. “The last time I saw it, it was falling into the well. I don’t know if it’s still there. I tried calling him, but I don’t think Daddy can hear me. Maybe because of the spell we used.”

“He can hear you. He just can’t answer. Do you think you can go see if it’s still there?”

Eliana scowls. “I don’t want to go back up there. Who cares about the stupid crystal? I want to know if Norah is okay or not.”

“I’ll see if I can figure that out. Are you hungry?”

Eliana’s eyes widen nervously. “Not if the blind witch is coming to dinner.”

* * *

As the sun dips below the hills, the temperature drops. and a heavy damp fog begins to roll in. In the last rays of sunlight, Regina shivers, stops walking, and lowers Robin’s knapsack to the ground, momentarily searching for a jacket, or even a sweater. As spring has almost erupted into summer in Storybrooke, the warmest offering she finds, is a long-sleeved button-down shirt. Grateful for at least that, she wraps it around herself, pushes her arms through the sleeves, switches Robin’s knapsack to the opposite shoulder, and resumes her hike.

* * *

Catching the sound of multiple hoofbeats approaching fast in the distance behind him, Robin steps into the cover of nearby bushes, tucking himself into the shadows they provide. In less than a minute, he finds himself watching a stranger astride the largest black stallion he has ever encountered, clasping the reins of a second horse, and turning a wide circle; his head swiveling side to side; obviously searching for something, or someone.

“Robin Locksley?”

Robin backs up slowly, creeping further into the shadows. Bollocks! He doesn’t recognize this man. Well, that’s hardly an impressive distinction. He knows no one here.

“Show yourself. I know you can hear me. I know you are here somewhere. I mean you no harm. I am a friend.”

Robin stares at the big man with two horses, mulling it over in his mind. It’s a risk. For all he knows this man is a liar, but he can hardly outrun him on foot, and it is getting cold. He can’t stay here in this position all night. And, what’s with the second horse? Why ride one and bring another along for the hunt? Because, you daft twat, he’s going to force you onto it and take you back to Queen Fuzzy Britches. 

Robin sighs in disgust and stands up, rising out of the shadows to return to his full height. “Why should I trust you? Why should I trust anyone here in this place?”

Turning his way, the man on the massive stallion chuckles. “Now, that’s a fair question.”

“Do you have an answer for it?”

He dismounts, approaching slowly. “You may trust me because I am not stupid. That is what it would be to bring any harm to the husband of Regina Mills-Locksley; stupid.” He holds out his arm, offering to shake hands. “I am Anteros, and I am at your service.”

Robin hesitates, still not certain. “You knew my wife?”

“Correction. I know your wife. I also know that she is on her way to you.”

Robin is both overcome with relief, and embarrassed. “You know Regina? Present tense? She is here? She is on her way? Then, she is alive? She is…”

“I see this place has made a mess of your memories. There is no shame in it. This place makes messes of the memories of most mortals. However, as anxious as I know you must be, I’ll ask you to hold your questions. Time is precious. I fear we shall run it down to the wire.”

Robin chuckles. “That’s no uncommon occurrence for Regina and myself.”

“Then you know it’s best to save your questions until you reach safety. Can you ride?”

Robin shrugs. “Well enough.” He takes the offered reins of the horse meant for him in one hand. With the other, he finally offers Anteros a firm handshake.

“Then please allow me to shorten the distance between the two of you. I must get you both away from this place as quickly as possible. My father has arrived here in Valhalla which, I’m sorry to say, means it is only a matter of time before the pillow talk begins.”

Puzzled by the oddity of the comment, Robin tucks his bundle of clothing into a saddle bag and takes his mount astride a sturdy looking bay mare. “I’m not sure it would be polite of me to ask what that statement means. How do you know my wife?”

Anteros nudges his eager horse into a gallop, calling over his shoulder, “I think it would be best if I allow her to explain that. We are taking a southwest heading. Make sure you keep up.”

* * *

Henry Mills’ motorcycle roars over the Storybrooke town line without so much as a tap on the brake. A few minutes to get through the darkened streets of town with all its boarded-up windows, and he kills the bike’s engine still a half block away from the barn, and walks it the rest of the way in.

As promised, Grandpa left the porch light burning, but so are most of the rest of the lights on the ground floor of the house. Letting him know immediately that the house’s occupants are awake, and there was no need for him to worry about disturbing their sleep with the engine noise from his iron steed.

Slipping through the front door as quietly as possible, he drops his backpack on the floor beside the table in the foyer. Before he has time to shrug out of his leather jacket, a familiar hopeful face greets him.

“Dadd…” Norah says softly. For just an instant, her face falls and then she hurls herself at him. “Henry!”

He hauls her up off the floor, tucking her under one arm. “Hey there baby sister. I brought you some jellybeans.”

Norah winds her little arms around his neck and lays her curly head on his shoulder. “Nah, you can keep ‘em. I don’t want ‘em.”

Henry raises an eyebrow as he steps into the great room. “You don’t want jellybeans?”

Norah shakes her head. “My stomach hurts. I want Daddy.”

Henry runs his fingers through her curly mop of hair. “You do know he’s coming home. There’s no way Mom will come back without him.”

“What’s taking them so long?”

“It’s only been a few hours. Sometimes these things take time. Trust me, they’re coming home. I’d bet my bike on it!”

“Henry, don’t do that! You love your bike.”

“That’s right. I do, but I love you more kid. And I’m gonna save your jellybeans until you feel like eating them.”

Emma appears in the doorway to the kitchen holding a saucer and eating what looks like the remains of an apple turnover. “Hey kid. Welcome home. We’re all in here. Did I hear you say jellybeans?”

Stepping through the kitchen archway, Henry chuckles as he pats his mother’s round belly with affection. “Looks like you’re already having dessert.”

He smiles as his eyes travel around the room, happy to see the expectant faces of friends and family. “Hey Roland, Hook, Grandma, Neal, Grandpas, Dorothy, Ruby…” He stops when his gaze unexpectedly lands on a pretty, and familiar, but rarely seen face. “Aphrodite… What do we know?”

Regina’s father sighs. “As of right now, not much. Do you want coffee and pizza?”

Henry laughs. “Has Ruby ever been known to howl at the moon?”

* * *

Regina stops moving; her tired legs complaining that it’s about damn time. Wishing the fog wasn’t quite so thick, she stills her breathing, and listens intently. She knows she heard something. She turns a slow circle, cursing the quarter sliver of moon that gives off so very little light – just barely enough to make the mist look ghostly in the darkness. 

Reasoning that it’s better to be exposed, than to be trampled by some unseen thing in the darkness, she conjures a bit of light magic and holds it motionless in the palm of her outstretched hand. She turns another slow circle. When it is complete, and she is back to her original position, she hears the unmistakable sound of horses approaching rapidly. Without the bit of light from her magic, she might have missed the magnificent stallion speeding her way some 60 feet off to her left in the black of night. With the light, she makes her own position clearly known and the horse’s rider immediately corrects his trajectory to cross paths with hers. Because it’s too late to hide, Regina simply stands her ground and waits.

When the two men on horseback are near enough to be recognized, Regina inhales deeply; the cold damp air stinging her lungs as she drops Robin’s knapsack and her legs suddenly forget how tired they are.

“Regina!” Robin stands up in the saddle and calls her name. In the next instant, his feet are on the ground and he’s running at her, crushing her in his embrace, or maybe she’s crushing him. She doesn’t know. The only thing she knows for certain is that she can feel him. He’s real, he’s solid, he is warm, and his fingers are tangled in her hair as his mouth finds hers.

Laughing, or maybe crying, she threads her fingers through the hair at the nape of his neck and returns his kiss. She feels him wince, but he doesn’t stop. He won’t let go. Not even when she remembers that they are being watched, and he feels her take a half step back.

“What’s wrong milady?”

Her breathing is labored and ragged, and her smile holds just the faintest trace of apology as she caresses his bruised face with tender fingers. “Nothing. Not a thing in this world… Except, I’m going to annihilate whoever did this to your face.”

Turning his head, he kisses the inside of her palm before taking her hand in his. Immediately reaching for the other, he brings both of hers together, cupping them between his, and blowing warm breath against them. “Your hands are cold.”

Regina nods. Half of her attention focused somewhere over Robin’s right shoulder, she whispers, “My whole body is cold.”

Robin looks down at her and offers his best lopsided grin. “I think I see why? What are you doing? Trying to fit in with Antiop’s half-naked bunch?”

Regina places both hands against his chest and pushes back slightly. “Actually yes, that is what I was doing. Zeus suggested that I try to blend in.”

Robin shakes his head. “Sorry to tell you this love, but you’ll outshine every single one of them.”

She only offers the bearest hint of a smile in response.

“Regina?” Robin follows her gaze and glances over his shoulder at Anteros.

“Regina?” Robin questions again; confused by the quality of light in his wife’s dark eyes.

“Give me a few minutes? I know you’re not going to understand this, but if you give me just a few minutes, I promise I’ll explain everything.”

Robin nods. “Of course, anything, love.”

She brushes a feather light kiss across his cheek just before she’s on the move again, running across the uneven ground half blind, not caring where she steps until she hurls herself into the waiting embrace of Robin’s riding companion.

He feels like a stranger watching the big man lift Regina’s feet eight inches off the ground as he spins her around in his arms, laughing with unmistakable delight.

Once her feet are on the ground again, Robin approaches with a ready smile, and a raised eyebrow. “Well, he said he knew you. I’m guessing that was a bit of an understatement.”

Neither of them pays Robin any mind.

Still breathing hard, Regina covers the bottom half of her face with her hands and whispers, “Oh my god!”

Anteros nods and smiles. “And I always will be.”

Regina swats at his chest. “That’s not what I meant.”

He chuckles. “I know.”

She huffs softly. “Look at you.” She hugs him again. “You’re beautiful.”

He laughs. “Me? Have you looked in a mirror lately?”

Regina shakes her head. “Not since this morning. I probably look dreadful. It’s been a hell of a long day.”

“Well, I can’t tell by looking at you. You’re the best thing I’ve seen in 120 years.”

“How are you?”

Anteros wobbles his head side to side. “I’m good. Better now I’ve found you.”

Regina smiles up at him.

He doesn’t want to let her go, but after another moment, he clears his throat, “Come on, get yourself up on that horse. I’ve got to get you love birds out of here while there’s still time. Father is having dinner with Antiop tonight. It’s best if you two are long gone before the wine loosens his tongue. Once she mentions Robin to him…”

Regina nods picking up the thread of his thoughts. “He’ll tell her exactly who Robin is… in relation to me.”

Anteros nods. “And then the ladies will come out in full force to hunt him down. She won’t be so eager to let him go then.”

Robin interrupts. “Well, then let’s save her the trouble.”

Both Regina and Anteros turn to face him, asking in unison, “What do you mean?”

Summoning his courage, Robin inhales deeply, and then nods, as if assuring himself that he has made the right decision. “I want to go back.”

Regina scowls, shaking her head. “Robin! I know she put you in that arena of hers. I can tell by the condition of your face. Have you taken one too many blows to the head? Have you completely lost your mind?”

Robin somehow manages to nod and shake his head all at the same time. “Whether or not I’ve lost my mind is debatable, but, now that you’re here, I want to go back Regina.”

“Okay, you’re going to have to explain that one to me thief.”

“She took my ring. I want it back.”

Regina squints. “What? What ring?”

Feeling as though it should be obvious given the fact that it’s the only piece of jewelry he wears, Robin holds up his conspicuously naked left hand. “My wedding ring.”

Regina smiles, reaches for his hand, kisses it, and breathes easier. “Oh Robin, she does that to all the men. Return visitors know to take them off before stepping into her lair. It’s okay. It’s not your fault. I’ll buy you a new one.”

Robin stubbornly shakes his head. “I don’t want a new one. I want the one you gave me on our wedding day. She had no right to take it. I want it back.”

Both Regina and Anteros shake their heads.

Regina speaks softly, trying to explain in as few words as possible. “You don’t understand what’s happening here. I’ll explain it all later, but right now, we need to leave.”

Robin digs in his heels.

“Robin, this is not the time to be obstinate.”

Robin waits.

“What’s the matter with you? Of all the people I know, you’re the one with the fewest material possessions. You’re not completely dimwitted. You know that ring is nothing more than a small piece of metal. Without the sentiment attached to it, it’s worthless. I promise you, that particular sentiment is still firmly in place. It hasn’t gone anywhere. Now, can we please go home?”

Robin returns fire. “What’s the matter with you? One of us wants something, the other one moves heaven and earth to make it happen, right? That’s the way we work!”

Regina’s hands find her hips. “You want to storm the Amazon queen’s palace? You want to walk into the lion’s den just to get your wedding ring back?”

Robin glares right back at her. “Yes! I do!”

Regina momentarily turns her back on him, trying to get a hold of her irritation. When she turns around again, she jabs her index finger into the center of his chest. “This is madness. You hear me? This is madness!”

“I hear you. You’re screaming at me.”

Regina turns to Anteros with a raised eyebrow.

Anteros shrugs. “I’ll give him this much. He’s got a set of stones. He knows what he wants.”

Regina nods aggressively. “He’s gonna get himself killed.”

“Maybe not if we help him.”

Regina glares. “I can’t believe you’re even considering this. You know what we’re up against. He doesn’t.”

“If I cared enough to give somebody a ring like that, I would want to know that it mattered this much to them. If he wants to go back, I’ll back him up.”

Regina stomps toward the bay mare, picking up Robin's knapsack and roughly tossing it to him on her way. “Unbelievable!” She swings herself up and into the saddle. Shedding his bow and quiver, she holds them out, and then looks down at Robin who is still standing rooted in place. “Do you want to go get your ring back, or not?”

Robin nods emphatically.

“Well then, take your gear and come on already! Don’t stand there waiting to freeze to death! Get your ass on the horse!”

While he shoulders his belongings, Regina scoots as far forward in the saddle as she can, allowing Robin the use of the stirrup long enough for him to climb up behind her. As they turn back the way Robin and Anteros came, he asks, “So, how do you two know each other?”

Anteros defers to Regina. “I think you better be the one to tell him.”

Regina shrugs and says plainly, “I adopted him a little over 400 years ago. He’s my son.”

Robin squints incredulously down at the top of his wife’s head, momentarily at a complete loss for words. When she says nothing else, he turns his gaze to Anteros who simply shrugs and nods. Figuring out that no one’s going to call ‘gotcha’ anytime soon, Robin also shrugs. “Okay, I can roll with that for now… But one day soon, you are going to have to explain it to me.”


	20. Chapter 20

* * *

Once the children have been forcibly put to bed and only the adults remain gathered around the table in Robin and Regina’s kitchen with their hands wrapped around steaming mugs, Henry squints in confusion. “I don’t understand. I thought you could talk to anyone, I mean, you’re a goddess.”

Aphrodite smiles sweetly. “Anyone can talk to me… because I’m a goddess. They don’t even have to speak the words aloud; all they have to do is think. However, it’s not a two-way system. I don’t communicate via mental telepathy with every person on the planet. If I did, I’d never have a single moment’s rest. There are a few other things to be considered as well.”

Henry nods. “Okay, I’m…” He gestures to his family. “We’re listening.”

“This world has different realms. This world has different dimensions. Different planes, but even with those instances, you’re still only talking about one world.” Aphrodite glances around the table making eye contact with each person there. “You all have to understand, there are millions upon millions of worlds. Henry, at present, your mother is not in this world. Travel between realms is one thing. Travel between dimensions is another, travel and\or communication between worlds… That is a very complex, very difficult thing to manage, even before you start talking about intra-world politics… Even before you start talking about our current problem thanks to your cousin, even if we weren’t currently grounded thanks to Eliana’s little switching spell, there are laws against unsanctioned travel between worlds. 

Wanting to make certain he is correct, Henry asks, “Zeus can get around Eliana’s spell? At best, she’s only ¾ goddess, and she’s six.”

“Of course, Daddy can get around Eliana’s spell. Aphrodite chuckles. Honestly, for him, that’s child’s play… Literally. But he’s trying to teach her something. If he sweeps in and undoes it simply because he can…”

Henry nods. “I get it. He’s lost the teachable moment. Which is precisely the problem her parents are currently having.”

“Right, and if she continues to grow both physically, and in her power unchecked…”

Henry imitates the sound of something blowing up. “Bad!”

“Bad’ doesn’t even begin to cover it. And… That’s just the ‘Eliana’ issue. Billions of years ago, when my grandparents were alive - well, first let me say that all deities are related to one another in some fashion, no matter how distantly, and no matter which world they oversee. Just like if you worked at it hard enough and you if could account for all the lost paper trails in this world, you could connect every single human being. Gods are like that too, only we’re spread out across the universe. My grandparents, who were titans, became too convinced of their own supremacy, and their right to rule because of it. They wanted dominion over Earth, and they would not have been just rulers. They would not have been anywhere close to benevolent. Before they were overcome, there was a rift among the gods. My grandfather, Kronos, created a key that would allow him unrestrained travel to any world he chose. This frightened other branches of the family. If he could claim dominion over Earth, and he had a key that would allow him unrestricted travel to any world upon his whim, then what was to stop him from attempting to seize control of multiple worlds? In order to protect his own people, Odin, the All-father of the Norse gods opposed this, and severed all ties with the gods of Olympus. We have no proof, but rumor is that Odin may have created a key of his own. Since then, Olympus and the people of Asgard have been in a state of cold war.” She uses her fingers to form quote marks in the air around her next words. “I won’t use mine if you don’t use yours.’ Even communication between the gods of the two worlds is prohibited. There was a dispute over the territory known as Valhalla. The Valkyries are a Norse people, the territory belongs to them, but once a year, the Amazonians like to visit. A treaty was established to facilitate peace between the two cultures in the territory. It was long ago agreed upon that no other gods from either culture would ever visit Valhalla without authorization. Your mother being there is one thing. She is not a god, but she couldn’t have gotten there without the help of at least one. However Daddy managed it - well, let’s just say that it probably wasn’t strictly legit. It probably happened through some kind of back-channel. The sooner your mother comes home, the better. If she calls for him, Daddy will hear her. He will get her home. If something happens, he cannot go to her. His presence there would likely start a war between the worlds. The likes of which, I don’t even want to think about.”

Henry chews on his lower lip. “Did Zeus tell Mom any of this before he sent her?”

Aphrodite exhales slowly, choosing her words. “I know you can’t remember this, but this is not your mom’s first trip to Valhalla. You know about your sister Norah, and the scant few pieces of evidence that support the theory that a teenaged version of herself traveled back in time to before she was born. You’ve seen things that may indicate that you met her prior to her birth, but you cannot clearly recall these events. If you remember anything of them, they are very out of focus. Right?”

Henry nods. “Yeah, sure. We’re all kind of aware that something happened, but none of us can remember what.”

The reason for that loss of memory has a lot to do with the laws governing a trip to Valhalla. I cannot talk to you about it. I can only say that it’s not Regina’s first trip. I’m not privy to any conversations she may or may not have had with my father. What she knows, or doesn’t know, about foreign relations between Olympus and Valhalla, I do not know, and even if I did, I couldn’t tell you.”

“So, my mom is somewhere out there in the universe, on her own, with almost no backup, trying to find Robin, and flying blind, all thanks to sibling rivalry? Is that it in a nutshell?”

Aphrodite squeezes his shoulder gently as she shrugs.

Henry looks to his three grandparents who are currently in the room with him. “Boy, I know she and Mom have been trying to work toward something, but I gotta say, I’m really glad Aunt Zelena isn’t here right now.” He exhales in a noisy huff. “I don’t think I would be able to keep myself from saying something really ugly to her!”

* * *

Even out in the open, 300 feet from the gates of Harmonia’s Repose, the Amazonian palace, the intrepid trio is still completely obscured from view by the heavy fog. Standing between the men, Regina takes one of their hands in each of hers. She begins to de-materialize then, seeming to think better of it, she stops. Turning to Anteros, she admits, “It might be best if you sort of help out and follow along, I don’t know whether or not I’m strong enough to take you anywhere. At least, not anymore. I would prefer not to do it wrong.”

In response, Anteros simply steps behind her, claps a hand lightly on Robin’s shoulder, and drapes his other arm around Regina’s waist. “Rather than trying to synchronize our efforts, why don’t I just take you and Robin along with me?”

Feeling she shouldn’t be surprised, Regina says quietly, “That works too.”

She blinks and scarcely before her eyes open, she knows that she will find herself standing behind the safety of the locked door to Antiop’s opulent antechamber.

Turning to smile up at Anteros, she touches his face with maternal affection and whispers, “I remember when you had trouble doing that.”

“Guess I’ve finally got it down.” He shrugs. “Took me long enough.”

“Apparently, it’s a lot more enjoyable than my mode of transportation. Robin doesn’t look quite so green around the gills as he does when I take him places.”

Robin grins and murmurs, “That’s because I don’t feel like my stomach has just plummeted through the cellar floor only to be slingshot back to its rightful place.”

Still whispering, Anteros redirects their attention. “Well, I think we had better be quick about this. Something tells me getting out will require a touch more effort.”

“Right.” Regina squares her shoulders as her game face slides into place. “Follow me boys.”

She strides across the sitting room on the balls of her feet. When both hands are resting lightly atop gleaming golden doorknobs, she glances back over her right shoulder briefly, making eye contact with Robin, who nods silently, even though it’s clearly obvious he’s ready; his bow drawn, an arrow waiting to be loosed.

Anteros hisses in her left ear, “Right behind you.”

With that, she pushes the doors open, and struts in as if she owns the place. Not the least bit surprised to find Antiop in bed and sitting astride her companion for the evening in a reversed cowgirl position, Regina declares, “Don’t mind us. We only came to collect Robin’s wedding ring. Please… don’t get up. Tell us where it is, and we will be gone in a flash.”

Eyes wide, mouth hanging open, either in shock, or pleasure – honestly, it’s hard to tell which until Antiop growls murderously, “Regina!” and without bothering to even attempt to cover herself, she starts to rise until her companion’s wide hands are seen clamping down around her hips, holding her in place.

“Let go of me!” Antiop demands and with her next breath she thunders, “What the hell? How dare you barge in here! Get out!” as her conquest for the evening finds his way to a sitting position and unmistakably winks at Regina over Antiop’s right shoulder. 

“Well, Hello Hot Pocket!” Still holding on to Antiop with one arm slung casually around her middle, the long-haired brute pats the side of the mattress in invitation. “Long time, no see. Come to join in on the fun?”

Both Anteros and Robin make a point of watching for sudden movements while simultaneously trying to avoid sight of the middle third of Antiop’s nude body, while Regina stares without shame at the couple on the bed and smirks, “Thanks, but no, Ares. I’ll pass. Wrong dynamic.”

“I am not sharing a bed with that… witch.”

Ares pouts, “Aw, come on girls. Why can’t we be friends?”

Regina rolls her eyes as her hands find their way to her hips. “Ares, are you just drunk or have you been partying with that death metal band again? I told you what I’m here for.”

“Right, okay, the archer’s wedding ring. Where is it, Allie Oop? Ares kisses her bare shoulder and raises an eyebrow.

“How many times do I have to tell you not to call me that?” Antiop rages.

“Don’t be mad. Just tell the smokin’ hot lady what she wants to know. If you two refuse to play nicely together then, I’d rather they leave quickly.”

Antiop growls in frustration. “Men! Your genitals and the needs associated with them are the only things you ever think about!”

Aries feigns offense. “Not true. I also think about war…” He purses his lips together as though he is lost in thought, trying to come up with a second option. “… And Nutella.”

Scowling in confusion, Antiop finally grabs the gauzy robe at the foot of the bed, and angrily wraps it around herself, for all the good the nearly transparent material does. “I know I am going to regret asking this, but what the hell is Nutella?”

“It’s a spread made to go on toast, fruit, and snacks. It’s as thick and chocolaty as frosting, and tastes of hazelnuts. It’s almost as good as ambrosia… Especially when you consider the fact that it was made by humans who, for the most part, are not known for having refined palates.”

“That’s it? Those are the three things you think about? Sex, fighting, and gluttony?”

Ares shares a look with his son, and in turn, Anteros bobs his chin once. “Yep, that pretty much covers it. That’s all Father thinks about. Sometimes I’m a blip on his radar, but that’s rare.”

“Hey, I got you to adulthood.”

Still not looking directly at the couple, Anteros fires back lightheartedly. “Did not.” He points to Regina. “She did that while you were off raising hell in the Middle East.”

Antiop finally ejects herself from the bed, leaving Ares scrambling for the top sheet to cover himself. “You let that…” She points aggressively at Regina, stammering furiously. “You let her raise my son?”

For ½ a second, Ares is surprised, and then an inferno ignites, and he is beyond furious. “Oh, now he’s your son? Don’t you dare call him that! Not now! You didn’t want him. Remember? He wasn’t good enough for you. You have no right to question anything I’ve done with him! He needed a mother. You were not interested in being one, and Regina needed something to do; a way to pass her time here. She needed a purpose. The fact that he didn’t come from her womb, didn’t deter her in the slightest, and neither did your ridiculous jealous obsession with her. She is his mother, and if you ever have the audacity to forget that again, I will end you!” Ares reaches for his leather trousers on the floor and slides into them in one easy move as he comes up out of the bed.

“Jealous obsession? With her?” Antiop sneers.

“Out of curiosity, did you hear anything else I just said?” Ares asks, adjusting his fly.

Enraged, and issuing a hellish war cry, Antiop reaches into one corner of the hangings around her bed and comes up with a long-handled spear to hurl at Regina’s chest.

Using magic with split-second timing, Regina redirects the projectile, spins out of its path, and it skewers the wall immediately to her right. “Big mistake, sister! I know you pretend to be all enlightened.” She hurls blasts of both light and dark magic from the palms of both hands simultaneously; in effect casting two shadows at once. One narrowly misses the side of Antiop’s head, and the Amazon queen barely manages to deflect the second with the imbued cuff bracelet worn on her left wrist. 

“Regina?” Robin stammers thunderstruck.

Regina plows on, barely registering Robin’s shock or the obvious reason for it. “I know you pretend it doesn’t matter. That’s all it is… Pretend. Unlike you, I never gave a damn who else Ares slept with. Like he said, I was passing time, and he was an excellent way to do that. Nothing more.” Regina hurls a third shadow from a single hand, this time catching her adversary squarely in the chest. She smiles coldly when a trickle of blood bubbles up in the left corner of Antiop’s lips. “If you want to hate me for that, go right ahead. And now that you know about it, if you want to hate me because you were not woman enough to raise your own child… Because I did it for you. Well, that’s fine too. However, kidnapping my husband, putting him in that absolutely barbarous arena of yours, stealing from him, and now, striking out at me physically… Regina backs Antiop into a wall, leaning heavily on the forearm pressed into her throat. “You’re going to tell me where his ring is. You’re going to give it back to him, or so help me…” Regina holds up a hand, putting a fourth potential shadow on display at point blank range. “I will obliterate you!”

Antiop head butts Regina in the face, knocking her off balance and driving her back.

The sickening crunch of cartilage. The warm gush of blood. For a moment, the world around Regina almost goes black. Then, she’s clawing her way back to her feet, but before she can get there, all three males in the room advance on Antiop. 

Regina wipes blood from her face and shakes her head trying to clear her badly blurred vision. “Let her go.”

They all three look at her as if she has taken leave of her senses. 

“This is between me and her. And, truth be told, maybe I deserved that. Except, she thinks I’m the one she’s mad at, but I’m not, am I, Antiop. Regina points at Ares and then at her. “She’s really mad at herself. She thinks he wronged her. He gave her a son, did not apologize for it, and then, as if that weren’t bad enough, he had the audacity not to be hopelessly in love with her. Which is something she’s not even supposed to want. Hence, the reason she’s mad at herself. She knew he wasn’t going to suddenly become a one-woman man, but there’s literally nothing she can do to him. She might inflict a smidgen of pain, but it won’t last. Blaming me is easier than blaming herself.” Regina pants heavily as she straightens back to her full height. “But the joke’s on you, honey. He’s no more in love with me than he is with you. There’s only one female he truly loves, and he can’t even be faithful to her. It’s not that he doesn’t understand the concept of fidelity, it’s just that he doesn’t see the need for it. Which, theoretically, should make you two a perfect couple, but you had to go and fall for him.” Regina holds out her hand, palm up. “Now, my husband wants his ring back.” She conjures another shadow, both light and dark magic emitted from the palm of a single hand.

Robin stares, transfixed. She’s not supposed to be able to do that. 

Before he can question it again, Regina asks darkly, “Are you going to give it back to him, or do we go for round two?”

  
  



	21. Chapter 21

* * *

Antiop glares venomously at Regina. 

Regina stands her ground and stares back without flinching. 

The three males in the room wait, watching anxiously. The room falls so silent that Anteros winds up listening to the sound of his own breathing.

The two women stare at each other until Antiop sighs in disgust and pushes past the men. “Alright, alright, you can let go of me already. I’m not going to hurt your darling Regina.”

She ignores Robin when he grouses, “It’s a little late to be making such declarations, isn’t it? Look at her. She’s bleeding.”

“As am I. She struck the first blow.”

“Excuse me? What was she supposed to do? Stand there and just wait to become a human target for your next spear?”

Antiop crosses the room without bothering to answer his question. At her dressing table, she removes the lid from a small rosewood box that is just big enough to hold a small loaf of bread. Plucking a single ring from the box, she crosses the room again on her way back to Robin, but Regina intercedes with a quiet but firm, “I’ll take that.”

Antiop smirks but shrugs.

About to reach for Robin’s hand, Regina glances down at the ring and sighs before stepping to the dressing table herself and removing the lid on the box once more. “This is not his.”

“What difference does that make? A wedding ring is a wedding ring. If you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all. Precious metal or white-hot branding iron, it makes no difference. A brand is still a brand.”

“You would think that.” Staring into the box, Regina grimaces and then dumps half of the box’s contents on top of the dressing table. “Antiop, there must be 400 rings in here… And you only do this one month out of the year. What are you doing? Collecting trophies? What is this, your personal version of notches on a bedpost?”

Antiop shrugs, wholly unbothered. 

Addressing Antiop, Robin steps to Regina’s side, offering an extra pair of eyes and hands. “I won’t say I agree with your assessment, but just so you understand, if a wedding ring were actually a brand, as you claim, I wouldn’t wear it because I am hers. I would wear it because I am proud to be hers. The distinction may be subtle, and therefore, entirely lost to you, but just because it is subtle doesn’t mean it is not profound.” 

Regina flattens the pile on top of the dressing table, spreading the rings out, trying to put some space between them. Automatically she disregards all the narrow bands, as well as all the ones cast in platinum, white gold, or silver. Using her own as a reference, it doesn’t take more than a moment or two before she picks up a wide, plain gold band and holds it close to the oil lamp on the table, turning it slightly so that she can verify the inscription on the underside of the ring. ‘ _Whatever souls are made of; yours and mine are the same.’_

Turning to face Robin, she takes his left hand in her right, and gently slides the ring into place. With a light but sweet kiss, she declares softly, “There, it’s back where it belongs. Now, can we please go back where we belong?”

“Just exactly how are you planning to do that?” Antiop demands to know.

Regina sneers. “How I intend to do that is none of your concern. I am not one of your subjects.”

“You can’t manage something like that; not without friends in some pretty high places. You don’t have friends like that Regina.”

By way of reply, Regina gestures to Anteros and Ares. “All evidence to the contrary.”

“He is not your friend!”

Regina smirks. “Oh, I don’t know about that. Ten minutes ago, he was in bed with you. Now he is standing guard over me. I call that pretty friendly.” With one arm around Robin’s waist, she reaches for Anteros’s hand as she asks Ares, “Coming with, or staying here?”

He flashes a smile that would leave lesser women quivering with lust. “I think I’ll stay put. Don’t want the night to be a total waste.”

Regina shrugs, her gaze flicking momentarily to Antiop. “If that’s what you want. Personally… You could do better.”

Ares shrugs as well. “Yeah but, she’s mad now. That’s always fun.”

Regina shakes her head. “Glutton.”

Ares returns fire lightheartedly. “Tease.”

Antiop growls. “You think you’re staying here? After this?” She hurls another spear; this one aimed at the god of war’s chest.

Considering it little more than foreplay, Ares waits until the point of the spear is scarcely millimeters away from his chest and blinks, vanishing and reappearing in the same spot.

In the single second that he is gone, Myrnah and another young Amazonian woman enter the room, concerned about raised voices, only to have the piercing projectile with Ares' name on it find a new home, deep in the upper left quadrant of the blonde’s chest.

Regina groans in disgust as Antiop and the other Amazon woman raise an alarm that no one will miss.

Turning swiftly, Ares catches Myrnah in his arms before she has time to hit the floor. 

Using magic, Regina closes and bolts the door, knowing that, at best, it will only buy her a few seconds. Using both hands, and double checking her aim, making certain that she will hit no one she cares about, she shouts, “Anteros down!” 

The young demigod hits the floor in the same instant that his mother throws two shadows, one catching the unknown newcomer completely by surprise, so that it spins her around and knocks her to the floor, unconscious.

Less surprised, but wounded from their confrontation only minutes before, Antiop still manages to put up more of a fight, running hard at Regina who steps back on her left foot, spins around, and plants her right heel in Antiop’s chest. 

Knowing that she’s going to rebound, Regina jerks hard at the leather strap around her own neck. When it gives, she makes eye contact with Anteros and tosses the pendant his way.

Catching it easily, he raises an eyebrow.

Preparing herself for a physical blow, Regina shouts, “Get Robin out of here. Call your grandfather. Get Robin home.

Stunned by what he hears, Robin looses an arrow to slow down Antiop’s progress on his way across the room. His arrow finds purchase in her left shoulder, but the wound is shallow, and she jerks it free.

Both he and Anteros shout, “I am not leaving you!”

Furious with the pair of them, Regina bellows, “I’m right behind you. Just go, damn it!”

Shaking his head, Robin stoops slightly, draping one of Myrnah’s arms around his shoulders as Ares does the same on the opposite side. “We can’t leave her. I won’t.”

“What?” Regina demands incredulously as Antiop throws her up against a wall.

“She did what little she could to help me. I will not leave her here to die. Not like this.”

Regina brings her heel down hard on Antiop’s left instep. Reaching up, she grabs a fistful of the other woman’s hair and brings her head down as she drives her own knee upward. Breathlessly, she pants, “What do you want to do, take her with us?”

Robin shrugs. “If we have to!”

Antiop staggers backward, and sinks to the floor, pulling Regina down with her. 

Even rolling around on the floor, trying to regain the upper hand, Regina rolls her eyes as she cast two shadows, and the subsequent explosion lifts the Amazon into the air and sends her flying.

Easing Myrnah down onto the bed, Robin calls out in equal parts fear and wonder, “Do you want to tell me how the bloody hell you’re doing this?”

Coming to her feet, Regina staggers across the room as quickly as possible. Breathless, she points to Ares. “Ask him.”.

“I’m asking you!”

Regina glances at Antiop, who is several feet away and going to need another second or two to get back on her feet. Scarcely glancing at the girl who is being held upright in a seated position on the edge of the mattress, she flicks her gaze at Ares, who needs no further prompting. He knows what to do.

Talking to Myrnah, he says quietly, “Sit still, sweet thing, and don’t fight Regina. She’s going to help you. I promise. It’s gonna burn like the flames of hell, but you’ll be okay in a minute or two.” To Robin, he says simply, “Hold her.”

Robin nods, wrapping his arms tightly around Myrnah’s torso as he positions himself in such a way to be clear of her wound.

As women’s anxious voices are heard in the corridor beyond Antiop’s private suite, Ares tightly grips the wooden shaft of the spear that is protruding from the girl’s chest, breaking it off as close to the skin as possible.

As Myrnah screams in agony, Regina magically finds, and levitates another spear. As it hovers midair between she and Antiop, she uses her other hand to magically push the remaining portion of the broken spear out through Myrnah’s back. When the wound is no longer obstructed, blood spurts freely, instantly, and forever staining Antiop’s bed linens a virulent shade of crimson.

Myrnah sags limply as sweet oblivion finally comes to collect her, and Robin and Ares lower her head gently to a pillow while Regina uses light magic to begin the healing process with her right hand, as her left hand uses dark to magically manipulate the spear that is holding Antiop at bay.

Ares instructs, “You don’t have to heal her all the way through. Just get her started. Her physiology is somewhat different than yours. If you can get her conscious, her body will do the rest. She will survive, but you cannot leave her here. If she did help your man, in any way, Antiop will see it as treason. If she’s not put to death, then, at the very least, she will be shunned – forced to live amongst them, but denied any and all interaction, which she will likely consider a fate worse than death.”

Regina glances at the door, knowing that they don’t have long. Any second now, it will give way to the Amazons on the other side. She turns to Robin. “She helped you?”

Robin gives the slightest of nods, just a quick bob of his chin, unwilling to voice the extent of her crime in Antiop’s presence.

Regina nods, dreading the inconvenience even as she says, “Well then, I owe her a ride out of here. Anteros, honey, take Robin and go. Go now!”

Again, they both shake their heads. “We’re not leaving…”

Ares roars, “Boy! Your mother told you to do something! Don’t worry, I’ll stay with her.”

When Myrnah moans, coming around, Regina nods her insistence. “We’re right behind you!”

Anteros lifts Myrnah into his arms, quickly tossing her over one shoulder.

In the next moment, the door gives way, and warrior women rush in, ready to fight just as Antiop switches her focus from Regina to Anteros and lunges at him, snatching the pendant on it’s leather strap out of his hand. Just as he speaks Zeus’s name, Antiop cries out in Greek, sending a message to her people. “Enas Kleidi!”

“Oh, god, Zeus, no, wait!” Regina shoutss, but it’s too late. Robin, Anteros, Antiop and the wounded Amazon all vanish. In the blink of an eye, they are simply gone.

Stunned motionless, for a second, Regina simply stares at the space where they no longer stand.

Ares swears loudly enough to bring her back to awareness. “Fuck me!”

When Regina looks up at him blinking, he wraps his arms around her.

As, they too, disappear from sight, leaving the Amazons to storm an empty bedchamber, he whispers in her ear, “My old man is gonna throw lightning bolts at me every time he sees me for the next 2000 years!”


	22. Chapter 22

* * *

Feeling like she’s been three rounds with Hera, the Cyclops, and the three-headed hound of Hell, Antiop materializes to find herself standing in lush green grass at the base of a colossal mountain range. Its peak obscured by fog with the lights shining down from above made ethereal in the mist. Instantly looking around for any potential unwanted traveling companions, she is both pleased, and annoyed, to find herself alone in the darkness. Perching on a boulder, she silently curses Regina for both, the pain in her chest, and her unknown location. She glances at the pendant still clutched tightly in her left hand. “Well, where have you brought me to?”

When no answer is forthcoming, she murmurs under her breath once more, “Damn Regina.”

Again, she looks around, trying to decide what to do next. Just when she spots a heavily worn trail leading up the side of the mountain, a dark-skinned man in a turban crosses her path. “Excuse me sir…”

The man stops walking, coming up short in surprise.

“My apologies. It was not my intent to startle you.”

The man’s eyes travel from the crown of her head to the tips of her toes and back again before he asks, speaking in an East Indian dialect of which she only knows a smattering of words, “Well, what do you want?”

“I wonder if you might tell me where I am? I’ve arrived here quite unexpectedly and I’m not quite certain of my whereabouts.

The man continues to stare mutely, his lack of understanding plainly visible on his face.

Sighing, Antiop shortens her question, and tries a few words in his native tongue. Pointing over her shoulder to the mountain, she asks, “Where is this place?”

The man squints as if he’s looking at a never-before-seen oddity. He points to the mountain as well. “Olympus.” He declares in hesitant English.

Antiop works hard to keep her mouth from falling open. “Mount Olympus?”

The man nods. “Getting to the top… hard work. Must earn.”

“I can do that.”

The man’s eyes run the length of her elongated frame again, and even as he nods, he laughs at her. “Not in the dark. You try that, you too foolish to reach the top. Goodnight lady.”

With that, he walks away leaving her sitting on top of her boulder, staring after him. 

She stares at the pendant in her hand with newfound wonder and respect. So, that’s how you work? I think of where I want to go at the moment of departure, and you simply take me there? Antiop smiles for the first time in hours.

* * *

Sheet lightning flashes and reverberates. Once it fades, Anteros opens his eyes and surveys his surroundings. He knows instantly that he is in Regina’s home. The great room of the old apple barn may have an abundance of hardwood, but it is all highly polished and even in the wee small hours of the morning, even with the fog pressing itself against the multi-story windowpanes like some obscene lurker, he knows that come daybreak the heavy mist will evaporate, and natural light will stream in through the windows and cast a brilliant patina over the elegant furnishings and household décor.

He’s not alone for more than two seconds when lightning fills up the house a second time and Robin appears at his side.

Sighing with obvious relief that he’s home, Robin also flinches as if in physical pain when he realizes that, in the infinitesimal time it takes him to blink, his memories have been fully restored. Because he doesn’t trust himself not to break down with the weight of his turbulent emotions if he were to give voice to his private thoughts, he simply questions, “Antiop?”

Anteros shakes his head. “I wish she were here. Then, I could do something about her.”

“Regina and… your father?”

“Not here either.”

Robin sighs as he steps to the nearest sofa to pick up the throw blanket draped over one arm and spread it over the seat. Whispering in the darkened house, he says, “I can see that much, and you can put her down here.”

Anteros steps his way but hesitates. “She’ll make a mess of it. She’s still bleeding.”

Robin nods. “That’s what the blanket is for. If Regina can’t get the stains out, she will simply replace it. It’s a lot less expensive than the sofa.”

Anteros lowers Myrnah’s feet to the floor and then eases her down onto the sofa. When she moans in response to pain, he assures her, “It’s alright now. You’re safe. Just rest and let yourself heal.”

Myrnah’s green eyes focus on his face briefly and she touches his shoulder before closing them.

Rising to his full height, Anteros declares, “She will be in and out until her body heals itself. Depending on how strong she is, it might take half an hour, or it could take several days.”

Robin nods. “Can you… I don’t know… sense Regina?”

“Always.” Anteros nods. “For the moment, she and Father are fine. Nothing to worry about just now.”

“Where are they?”

“Still in Valhalla, though I doubt they will be there very much longer.”

“Why is she still there? Is she trapped?”

“No. She’ll be here as soon as she can, but first she and Father have got to go after Antiop. She must be stopped, and as much as Regina wants to, she can’t come home. Not now. If she does, she will be grounded here, like the rest of us.”

“Where is Antiop?”

“At the foot of Olympus.”

“Mount Olympus? Why? Is she dead?”

Anteros’s quiet laughter is dry and humorless.

“I’ll take that as a ‘no.’ Why are we all in different places?”

“Because that pendant Regina was wearing takes a person to his or her deepest desire at any given moment. However, it can only be powered by my grandfather, Zeus. When we transported, you wanted to go home. I was simply following your lead. The only reason I got here faster…”

“Is because you’re a demigod.”

“That is correct.”

“Then, I don’t understand why Regina is not here with us.”

“She did not travel courtesy of the power of the stones in that pendant. Father carried her to safety with his own power. You needn’t worry. He will not let anything happen to her. He likes her far too much to allow any harm to come to her.”

“Why?”

“Why? You mean, why does he like her?”

Robin nods.

Anteros smirks, and Robin is struck by the absolute certainty that the young demigod has picked up the facial expression from Regina herself because he has seen the same expression on her face too many times to ever think differently.

“He likes her because she has the audacity to resist his advances. Most people, particularly most women, don’t. My father sees your wife as a challenge to be overcome, and that is something that is irresistible to him. He needs to fight. She gives him someone to fight with or, better put, something to fight for. She is an unattainable goal, because here, in this lifetime, she will never surrender to him, and as much as that fact may annoy him at times, he respects it. He respects her.”

“You talk about them as if they are more than just friends.”

Anteros tips his head to one side. “That is what they are now. Friends. She is yours, and yours alone. You are the only one she wants, and my father knows it.”

“My head seems to have sorted itself out. I now have two very different sets of memories, along with a vague notion of what Regina meant when she said she adopted you over four centuries ago.”

Yes, but that all happened in an afterlife for Mom. Four hundred nine years is a long time for any person to be alone. That is how long she was away, and she did not know that she would be returning to you. For you, I know that only the better part of 17 years passed. For her, it was the better part of five lifetimes. The only way to find peace in the afterlife, is to embrace it, and the only way to do that, is to let go of the life one had. If she hadn’t, she would’ve suffered miserably for it. I needed a mother… And she needed…”

Robin nods. “Something to do with herself. Of course, Regina would take in a child in need.” He smiles. “You’re not the first.”

“You don’t mind, then?”

“Not at all. It’s just one of the many reasons I love her. When we met, when we started spending time together as a couple, there was never a conversation about my son Roland in which I had to explain that we were a package deal. She never even questioned it. She put herself in terrible danger more than once out of compassion, not for me, but for Roland. She has never given him anything less than love. Before Roland, there was Henry. She came to this strange new realm where she understood almost nothing. She was alone, and even with all the new things she was struggling to understand, she still found time to single-handedly adopt a newborn boy.”

“She was there the day I was born. Antiop might have died if she hadn’t been. She stayed with me until… Until she got the chance to come back here.”

Robin nods. “I thought she would be in the underworld. I confronted your uncle, Hades. He was as clueless as I was miserable. He did not know where she was, and he wasn’t particularly happy about it.”

Grandfather sent her to Valhalla to protect her from Uncle Hades. He didn’t want him using her, or her power, for his own selfish means. The day Norah successfully traveled back in time to meet the two of you on the road to the Enchanted Forest, Zeus told Mom that if Norah’s efforts were successful, she would be brought back here, but that she would have no memory of Valhalla or the time she spent there. Mom tried hard to hide it, but it was agony for her. She wanted to be here and, she wanted to stay with me.”

For a moment, Robin says nothing as he studies the man before him. Then, he offers quietly, “I am sorry you got left behind.”

“But I wasn’t. I was an adult by the time she left. I could’ve been here in the blink of an eye. It only would’ve confused and hurt her. I could not do that. She belongs here with you and your children. I’m just lucky she was on loan for a while.”

“When she comes back this time, will she remember?”

Anteros shrugs. “That seems likely. If you can now clearly recall both, living with, and without her, then it’s likely she will return with her own memories intact as well.”

Robin takes a deep breath. “You don’t know how many times I woke her up the day Norah was born. I did it purely to be certain that she had not slipped away in her sleep. She was so still, so quiet, I couldn’t stand it.”

Anteros smiles. “Twenty-seven times. Aradia and Beatrice were both rather annoyed with you, but whenever they fussed at you, Mom would very sleepily tell them to leave you alone. She liked knowing how much you would miss her. Then, when they weren’t listening, she would threaten to throw fireballs at you if you didn’t let her go back to sleep.”

“You were watching over her.”

“Always.”

“Is that why you and your father were in Valhalla?”

“It’s why I was there. Father had his own agenda.”

“Will it get you into trouble?”

Anteros shakes his head. “It’ll get Father in trouble. He wasn’t supposed to be there, but then Father likes to be in places where he’s not supposed to be. Me… I don’t care if it does get me into trouble, but I can skate by on a technicality. It’s part of my job.”

“Your job?”

“Of course, but then… You do not know. I am the god of requited or returned love.”

Robin squints, but says lightly, “I thought Cupid - or is it Eros - was the god of love?”

Anteros nods but holds up one of his index fingers, silently asking for patience. “Small but important distinction… Eros is one of my baby brothers, and he is a cute little bugger. He amuses me. However, he is the god of unrequited love, which is the reason that he’s also sometimes known as Chaos. Cupid is a distant cousin who basically watches over new lovers. We are all three needed. Even with all Mom’s help, there is more than enough heart-shaped drama to go around. Humans keep us all pretty busy.”

Robin raises an eyebrow. “Mom’s?”

Anteros nods. “Sorry… other Mom. Aphrodite, goddess of marital and physical love. She looked after me every Spring when Antiop came to Valhalla on one of her visits. When I was young, Father decided it was best if I was not there when Antiop visited. Until a few days ago, she had not seen me since the day I was born.”

Robin chuckles wryly, “Leave it to Regina to raise two different sons who both have two mothers.”

Anteros shrugs. “She can do it because, when necessary, she can set aside her ego, especially if it’s for the good of a child. Oddly enough, that’s usually the point when most people have the hardest time setting their egos aside.”

“Wait, you just said ‘a few days ago.’ Days have passed?”

“Only in Valhalla. Here in Storybrooke, it’s only 7 hours later than when you left.

Robin nods even as his eyes widen in surprise and his mind tries to relegate what he hears. “I guess that’s how 17 years here equals 409 there.”

“Right. For the two of you, it’s been five years here.”

“And 120 for you?” Anteros’s comment to Regina about her being the best thing he’s seen in 120 years slides home in Robin’s mind.

“Well, the clock depends on which world I am visiting, but yes, that is the correlation between Storybrooke and Valhalla. The mortal aging process is about equal. A hundred twenty years of growth there evens out to about five years’ worth of growth here.”

Robin raises an eyebrow. “You’re 409 years old?”

“Again, age is a relative thing that depends on which world I am visiting, and which clock they use. In Valhalla, I am five hundred twenty-seven years old. If I were a mortal born here in Storybrooke, I’d be about twenty-two. I was born about two of Storybrooke’s years after Regina arrived in Valhalla the first time, and I’ve continued to age since she left there five years ago. The clock was only turned back for her. Not me. I know, it’s all about as clear as mud.”

Robin chuckles. “Yes, it is. But oddly enough, things are finally starting to make sense. And… Your father, Ares, he helped Regina to master her shadow casting abilities?”

“He did. As you’ve already acknowledged, she needed something to do with herself. She needed a purpose. Something to pass the time. Who better to help her learn to master something so volatile, than the god of war? He’s all about volatility. That, and there is almost nothing she can do to him. Sure, she can blow him up. Actually, she did… a few times. I’m sure it hurts like hell, but it’s not permanent. Not for him. According to her research on the topic, people in this realm, and several others, believe that shadows should be cast only in the most dire of circumstances because cataclysmic things can happen if it’s not done properly. That particular belief is only so widely held because, for the most part, mortals are afraid of things they do not understand. All the magic that Regina possesses, it all comes from the same place. It all comes from inside her. She was meant to be a vessel for it. She was meant to harness it. She was meant to control it, but that does not mean she was meant to cage it. The reason people think that light and dark magic should not be practiced simultaneously is because most people can’t do it successfully. And the reason for that is simple. Most shadow casters are not given the opportunity, or the time necessary, to hone their craft to perfection on a living breathing indestructible god. Father practiced with her for centuries - about 2 ½ of them - before she was finally able to knock him on his ass without simultaneously causing some hellish explosion. After learning to do that, taking on an Amazon over a purloined wedding ring…”

“But she hasn’t been doing that here… Not in the last five years. We’ve both noticed a slight change in her ability, a bit more precision. We just thought it was the experience that only comes with time.”

“Your sister-in-law has been a demigoddess her entire life, but she didn’t know it until about five years ago. It wasn’t until then that those particular powers woke inside her and she began to tap into them. Likewise, Mom didn’t remember her time spent in Valhalla. She could not recall training with my father. He trained her to fight in battles. He trained her to use everything and anything at her disposal. That included her ability as a shadow caster. Since her return to Storybrooke, her memories of Valhalla, and everything she learned there, have been in a state of hibernation. The moment she returned; the instant the memories of her training were available for her to access, she tapped into the heightened ability that she gained because of all that training. Antiop attacked, and the sleeping warrior woke with a deafening roar. I don’t know if this will put your worries to rest, or make them worse, but I grew up watching Mom train. Antiop just made an enemy of the wrong woman. To the absolute best of my knowledge, no other shadow caster in history has learned to do what Mom does. She is literally one of a kind.”

Robin sucks on his teeth and clicks his tongue against the inside of his cheek. “Not a surprise. I’ve always known that.”

* * *

“Fuck!” Ares swears violently as Regina’s feet touch down lightly on the bridge over the lake three miles away from the Amazon’s palace.

Looking around quickly to get her bearings, Regina asks dryly, “Could you be a bit more articulate - and what are we doing here?”

“We’re in trouble.”

“That much I know. I can ascertain that much from your choice of verbiage. What I need to know is why are we in trouble? What kind of trouble are we in? And, not to sound like a broken record, but what are we doing here?”  
  


“We’re in bad trouble. Really bad!”

“Thanks ever so much. That really clears things up!”

“We’re here because I needed a second to think. I need to call in a favor… And some reinforcements.”

Regina groans. “What favor? What the hell are you talking about Ares? Can’t you just take me home?”

“Yes, I can take you home, but the minute I do that, I’m going to be grounded in Storybrooke just like the rest of my kin.”

“Well, who cares about that. You’ll be on your way again as soon as we sort things out with Eliana.”

“No time to deal with the pint-sized ginger troublemaker just now. Antiop is climbing Olympus as we speak.”

Regina scowls. “Why the hell would anybody climb Olympus?”

“To get to the top.”

“Ares, I swear…”

“I mean that, both literally and figuratively. With the gods grounded in Storybrooke Olympus is vulnerable, ripe to be overtaken.”

“What, you mean like a coup?”

“Yes, hot lips. That’s exactly what I mean.”

From experience, Regina knows that if she protests his flagrant use of ridiculous nicknames, he’ll only come up with something more inappropriate. Not taking the bait, she asks, “Surely Olympus has security measures in place.”

“You bet your sweet round apple of an ass it does. But with only a few of the lesser gods in attendance, she’s going to wreak havoc. Zeus only knows what she will stumble onto up there and decide to use for her own self-serving means. We have to get there before she does. We have to stop her, and since communication between the gods is currently offline, we are on our own.

“Zeus told me not to lose that pendant. It’s my fault she’s up there.” Regina mutters under her breath, talking more to herself than Ares. If we go home, we can’t go anywhere else. Not without Zeus to help us on our way.”

Ares shakes his head. “Nothing doing. He won’t blame you. He knew there was a risk sending you. He made the call. Me, on the other hand, he’s going to be furious with.”

“Why?”

“I wasn’t supposed to be there. Unauthorized travel between worlds. If I hadn’t been there to antagonize Antiop. If I hadn’t deliberately picked on her insecurities about our relationship, things might not have gone the way they did. Dad is going to say this is my mess, I have to be the one to clean it up.”

Okay, going home is on hold. Can you at least find a way to get a message to Robin and let him know that I’m okay?”

“I can’t do it from here. Maybe, with any luck, from Olympus.”

Regina nods with determination. “Okay, let’s go then.”

“Oh, we’re going to Olympus. But first, Asgard.”

“What the hell is an Asgard?”

“it’s another world. I’ve got a buddy there who might be willing to lend us a hand.”

Picturing something akin to a divine fraternity brother, Regina declares drolly, “If you’re about to turn this into some sort of war games exercise…”

“Hey, that’s not a bad idea. You could use some practice. You’re a bit rusty.”

Regina rolls her eyes. “Am not!”

Ares laughs. “Are too. Five years playing house with the tree-hugging bandit has softened your reflexes.”

“Ares, stop trying to piss me off. Just tell me who we’re going to see.”

“Have you ever met Thor?”


End file.
